There were echoes of classic Australian political doco Rats in the Ranks at the Ku-ring-gai mayoral election on Tuesday night, as 22-year-old David Ossip - who had been on track to become mayor - was struck out of the race by a last-minute tactical manoeuvre.
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Cr Ossip, a law student who lives at home with his parents and is Ku-ring-gai's youngest-ever councillor, won the Liberals' nomination at a caucus meeting on Sunday night by three votes to two.
But at a second caucus meeting held just an hour before the ballot, sitting mayor Jennifer Anderson replaced him as the Liberal candidate. It is understood that Cr Ossip and his supporters arrived five minutes late to the meeting, by which time it had been concluded by Cr Anderson.
Although the Liberal Party did not officially endorse candidates at the Ku-ring-gai election, the party's new code of conduct requires all party members to bind in support of the mayoral nominee.
At Tuesday night's council meeting, Cr Anderson was re-elected by six votes to four, with the support of one non-Liberal councillor. Liberal Party member Chantelle Fornari-Orsmond was elected deputy mayor by the same margin.
The at-times farcical meeting saw councillor Cheryl Szatow tell the meeting that certain people had been "undemocratically removed from candidature".
Long-serving independent councillor Elaine Malicki, who lost the mayoral vote, was visibly frustrated by the process.
"I can't see how the councillors will ever work together again because of what has happened," she said.