THE current Maranoa Regional Council may be facing an exodus of sitting councillors with two more expected to lose their seats to join the three who have already retired.

The gap between council candidate Geoff McMullen and incumbent councillor Wendy Newman has widened to 0.38%, with McMullen (2153) holding only 151 votes above Cr Newman (2002).

Cr Newman’s situation follows the news Robert Loughnan looks likely to lose his position as mayor to Tyson Golder, while Ree Price, Scott Wason and Joy Denton all retired last month.

Cr Jan Chambers (3170) and Janelle Stanford (2968) still lead the race, followed by Cr David Schefe, Puddy Chandler, Cr Peter Flynn, Cr Cameron O’Neil and Robyn Bryant.

Ruth Golden, Greg Richardson and Tony Garland are still among the next-best with voters

Cr Newman said the current numbers don’t indicate a significant shift in the pattern, but there was the expectation that she would not be re-elected.

“At this stage I can’t expect anything, but there’s a chance that I won’t be re-elected after this election,” she said.

“It’s been a fairly tight race between the top eight councillors, but at this stage it’s hard to tell if there’s a margin.”

While Cr Newman said that anything was possible during election season, she said a sudden swing was unlikely with the number of votes being counted.

“Anything is possible, but I’m not expecting anything drastic to happen,” she

said.

Janelle Stanford, who holds a surprising second place in the polls, said she was grateful for the support she had received from the wider community.

While not willing to rule out a last-minute swing, she said a major change for the top eight candidates was unlikely at this point.

“There are still a couple of votes for those who aren’t ranking as well to catch up, but there’s little to indicate that there will be a change in the race,” she said.

“You can never be sure what happens with the election coverage, but I’m not expecting anything drastic to happen.”

Up to 59.51% of the electoral roll has been counted at this point, but postal votes for the area are still being accepted until March 29.

But candidates have been reluctant to officially call the election.