LABOR party candidate Luba Grigorovitch made history in this year’s Hobsons Bay Council election by becoming the municipality’s first candidate to win a ward on primary votes.

More than 40,000 residents voted on the weekend at voting centres across Hobsons Bay, with counting of first preference votes taking place on Saturday night.

At the end of this count, it was clear Ms Grigorovitch had blitzed the field and taken the reins of the Altona Meadows Ward.

The 23-year-old collected 3220 votes by Monday morning – 1437 higher than Independent candidate Maryanne Fiorini (1783) and 1789 more than Olivera Nikolovska (1431).

Ms Grigorovitch told the Star on Sunday that she was stoked.

“I was worried,” she said.

“Even though I had put in a lot of work and been campaigning a lot, I was worried about what the result would be.

“Then I saw on Saturday night that I was actually in, and I did a lot of celebrating.

“I didn’t realise it was such a big deal to get in on primaries, but then I was told I was the first person in Hobsons Bay to have done it ever.”

Ms Grigorovitch decided in May that she would nominate for council after holding an interest in politics since she was in primary school.

“In primary school I said that I wanted to be the first female Prime Minister of Australia,” she said.

“But as I got older I thought I don’t know if that will happen, but I stayed interested in politics.”

Ms Grigorovitch said she had lived in Altona Meadows all her life and some of the issues she’d like to address include increasing the hard rubbish collection service from once to twice a year, and getting childcare centres.

While Ms Grigorovitch was able to celebrate her win on Saturday night, another 34 Hobsons Bay candidates were in limbo, waiting for preferences to be distributed. This was expected to be done by Monday night.

In the Altona Ward, it was looking almost certain yesterday morning that Independent candidate Tony Briffa’s wait to get on to council was over.

After the first preference count, Mr Briffa, who narrowly missed winning the Seabrook Ward in the 2004 election, was 1436 votes ahead of Labor candidate Daniel Allen (1589).

Mr Briffa said on Monday morning that he was confident the ward would be his.

“I really didn’t know what to expect,” he said.

“The ALP candidate (Daniel Allen) had a strong campaign and had the benefit of the ALP brand.

“Now I’m just thinking about the job at hand.

“My focus will be to represent the people who elected me, not just the council.

“I’m mindful that when someone gets on to council their focus can change from representing the residents to representing the council.”