A BITTER battle is expected for vacant seats on Monash Council after nominations for the election closed last Tuesday.
Across Monash, 58 candidates put forward their intention to run for only 11 seats on the council.
Oakleigh Ward will be the most hotly contested with 20 candidates for only three empty seats.
These include incumbents Stephen Dimopoulos and Stefanie Perri, Clayton Traders Association president Bill Pontikis and Theo Zographos, the electorate officer of Burwood MP Graham Watt.
In Glen Waverley Ward, nine candidates have put forward their names for two vacancies. They include incumbent Geoff Lake.
Mulgrave has 15 candidates for three vacancies.
Nominees include incumbents Paul Klisaris and Micaela Drieberg.
Mt Waverley Ward has 14 candidates, including incumbents Tom Morrissey and Jieh-Yung Lo, for the three vacancies.
But in an interesting twist, Mr Morrissey's wife, Lorraine Morrissey, will also be running for a seat in Glen Waverley Ward against Cr Lake.
Questions have been raised over whether there will be a conflict of interest if husband and wife both win a seat.
But Mrs Morrissey batted away the concerns.
She told the Weekly she hadn't even considered that there would be a conflict of interest. "I don't see why there would be. We're two different people, we have our own views, we'd be representing different wards," she said.
It's unclear whether disgraced former Liberal Party member Matthew Hammon will run for Oakleigh as an independent.
The Monash Ratepayers Association, led by Des Olin and his lieutenant, Chan Cheah, have members contesting Glen Waverley and Mulgrave.
All candidates have been contacted by the Weekly and given a questionnaire on their campaign and what they consider to be the biggest issues in Monash.
These answers will be published as they are received.