AHEAD OF THE GAME: Leon Thorpe is likely to be elected to council ahead of other candidates who received more primary votes because of preference deals.
THE excruciating wait for results in Griffith's councillor election has some candidates questioning their decision to run independently.
With only three candidates receiving the required amount of primary votes to be elected, preferences will determine the final make-up of Griffith's council.
If how-to-vote cards were followed by the community, those who had made preference deals would have a good chance of leapfrogging other candidates to be elected to council.
Independent candidate Brian Hopper is one contender at risk of losing his primary vote advantage to preference deals and admitted he would do it differently next time.
"If I had the chance again I would put more planning into it and would probably try and go on a ticket," he said.
"It would be great if I could get through on my own merit and there's still a little bit of hope there."
Mr Hopper said despite his current position, he did not believe preferences were a bad thing.
"It will be tough not to make it through if that's what's going to happen, but you live and learn," he said.
"(Preference deals) are not unfair. The whole point of going with a strong running mate is to be their support and backup."
Leon Thorpe, who earned less than 2 per cent of the primary vote, is set to benefit from running on John Dal Broi's ticket.
As he was elected mayor, all of Cr Dal Broi's 2592 councillor votes will be redistributed based on preferences.
Dr Thorpe admitted he felt for the candidates who would suffer from the preference deals, but said it was all part of the election process.
"All we were doing was following the rules laid down by state parliament and that's the way things work," he said.
"It's not as if we're the first in this situation - four years ago Mike Neville and Bill Lancaster teamed up and Bill was able to benefit from Mike's popularity at the time."
Despite his less-than-promising performance in the primary vote, Dr Thorpe said he was quietly confident of his chances of getting on the new council.
"Talking to the various experts at the poll, they reassured me that I have a significant chance of being on council and I accepted that," he said.