A countback next month will confirm Horsham Rural City’s newest councillor.

The Victorian Electoral Commission will conduct a countback procedure on Tuesday, September 6 to fill an extraordinary vacancy after the resignation of Di Bell last week.

The countback of all formal votes from the 2020 Horsham council election will occur online via webinar at 10am.

Votes will be redistributed to candidates who were unsuccessful at the election, and who remain eligible to participate in the countback, to fill the extraordinary vacancy.

Candidates Brian Basham and Robert Redden are in contention.

Election manager Charmaine Morel said the countback was based on the proportional representation method of counting.

“The candidate who achieves the quota will be elected. If no participating candidate achieves the quota, following the distribution of votes to participating candidates, the candidate with the highest number of countback votes will be elected,” she said.

Mr Basham originally placed eighth, with 3.79 percent of the first-preference vote, and Dr Redden ninth, with 3.19 percent, among a field of nine candidates.

Mr Basham is a former police officer who now works as a mental health counsellor and clinical hypnotherapist.

Dr Redden is a retired seed curator and non-fiction writer.