MILLICENT businessman Dennis Muhovics will fill the Corcoran Ward vacancy on Wattle Range Council after a landslide victory.
Mr Muhovics secured almost two-thirds of the primary vote and so there was no need to allocate preferences.
He polled 1098 first preference votes in the supplementary election, well ahead of Nicole Looby-McRostie (329) Ryan Jellesma (186) and Klaus Emmerich (30).
The postal ballot of the four local residents to replace retired Corcoran Ward councillor Glenn Brown closed at noon on Monday.
The election process was conducted by the Electoral Commission of South Australia with commissioner Mick Sherry filling the role of returning officer.
The scrutiny and count began at 1.30pm on Tuesday at the Electoral Commission office in Adelaide and a provisional declaration was made at 4.50pm.
A final declaration is set tomorrow afternoon.
The campaigning by the four candidates had been low-key and had included posters in shop windows and mail-outs.
The vote attracted 1677 completed ballot papers from Millicent and Tantanoola and this represented almost 41 pc of the 4106 eligible voters.
The ballot papers were sorted and posted in Adelaide last month.
Meanwhile, the business of council proceeded with Mayor Des Noll OAM and the 10 continuing members having their September monthly meeting at Millicent from 5pm on Tuesday.
Chief executive Ben Gower announced the election result at the start of the meeting.
Council has set aside $20,000 in its 2019/20 budget for expenses relating to the supplementary election.
Mr Muhovics was formerly a Corcoran ward councillor from 2014-2018 but was defeated for the mayoralty by Mr Noll at the November election.
He is an ex- president of the Mid South East Football League and a former deputy chairman of the board of Boneham Aged Care Services.
His wife Pat was Deputy Mayor of Wattle Range Council from 1997-2000 and also served on the former District Council of Millicent.
Mr Muhovics has not been available for comment.
Mr Jellesma was a first-time candidate while the other two had both made bids for a Corcoran ward seat in 2018.
