Hobart councillors Bill Harvey and John Kelly will go head-to-head for the deputy lord mayor job in a secret council ballot on Monday.
Both ran for lord mayor at last month’s election but lost to Charles Wooley.
The three deputy lord mayor candidates who won council seats – Simon Behrakis, Zelinda Sherlock and Louise Elliot – have not nominated for the role.
Sherlock held the deputy lord mayor position before the election.
The job is vacant because Ben Lohberger won the deputy lord mayor election but failed to secure a seat on the council. The deputy must also be an elected councillor.
Lohberger defeated Behrakis by 14,230 votes to 10,791 after preferences, securing 56.9% of the vote despite trailing on first preferences.
But when the Tasmanian Electoral Commission finalised the councillor count, Lohberger missed out on one of the nine seats.
He was one of three sitting councillors to lose their seats as the council shrank from 12 members to nine.
Harvey and Kelly will each have three minutes to address the council before councillors cast their votes. The winner needs a simple majority.
If two rounds of voting end in a tie, the winner will be drawn by lot using identical opaque spheres.
The new deputy lord mayor will serve for the remainder of the four-year term.
The special council meeting will begin at 4pm on Monday at Hobart Town Hall.
