Votes counted, results out for Tasmania's 29 local councils

After an estimated 30 million keystrokes, counting in Tasmania's 2026 council elections is complete, with results now known for all 29 of the state's local government areas.

This local election is the second to be compulsory in the state, and Tasmanian electors set a new national record for voter participation at 85.6 per cent, slightly more than in the 2022 council election.

The 2026 election also saw a statewide reduction in the number of councillors from 263 to 213.

At the five largest councils — Hobart City, Launceston, Clarence, Kingborough and Glenorchy — the number of councillor seats reduced from 12 to 9, while the remaining councils will have seven.

Election analyst Kevin Bonham said that while there were fewer seats for sitting members to contest, there was still a flush of new faces elected.

"There are always a lot of incumbents to get re-elected in local government, but there have been quite a few who have been knocked out, particularly in the south, and often by new candidates,"

Dr Bonham said.

Several high-profile mayors stepped aside this election, including Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds, who had held the position for eight years.

Other councils where the incumbent mayor chose not to seek re-election include Huon Valley, George Town, Latrobe, Meander Valley, Kingborough, Waratah-Wynyard and West Tamar.

Dr Bonham said this year's mayoral race had returned some "unusual results".

"The Clarence result was quite unusual in that they've elected a mayor who was only sixth on the council ballot, which is a very rare event.

"In a lot of cases where there was a vacant mayoral position, the deputy mayor, if they ran for that vacant mayor position, won it,"

Dr Bonham said.

This was the case in the Kentish mayoral race and for the incoming deputy mayors at Central Highlands and Flinders, who were all elected unopposed.

At King Island and Tasman councils, there were fewer nominations than vacancies, resulting in councillors being elected unopposed.

At Hobart City Council, the vacant role of deputy lord mayor will instead be elected by the councillors at their first meeting after the elected candidate failed to retain their seat on the council.

Refresh at Hobart City Council

At Hobart City Council, Dr Bonham said three sitting councillors were unsuccessful, although the number of available positions was equal to the number of recontesting councillors.

Of the three who were not returning councillors, he said there were "two cases by new councillors and in one case by a returning councillor who won at the last election and then was in state parliament for part of the term".

"That's quite a high turnover."

Dr Bonham said a swing to the right by Hobart voters reflected the strength of the candidates.

"The left had Anna Reynolds and Helen Burnet at the last election. There weren't many new left candidates coming through to replace them, and that has actually caused the swing in the make-up of the council," he said.

Unsuccessful candidates remain on the bench for potential call-up, in the case of a vacancy during the four-year term of office.