ELECTION hopefuls from both major political parties have hit back at allegations they're receiving preferences through misleading candidate statements.
Mulgrave ward candidate and Liberal Party member Robert Davies lodged a complaint with the Victoria Electoral Commission against Tiffnee Mellech over her candidate statement on the VEC website.
Although Ms Mellech has stated that she holds "strong Liberal values", most of her immediate preferences flow to Australian Labor Party members.
Mr Davies accused Ms Mellech of making a "false and misleading" statement.
But Cr Klisaris, who received Ms Mellech's second preference, said Mr Davies' claims were "laughable" and accused him of clutching at straws.
Cr Klisaris, said he met Ms Mellech on the day she nominated for the election and discovered they had common ground.
"Tiffnee never gave me any indication that she was a Liberal Party member or Liberal voter. She was quite impressed and shared the same values I have ."
Across town in the Mount Waverley ward, preference data shows that candidate Vicki Sifredi has preferenced ALP member and incumbent councillor Jieh-Yung Lo even though Ms Sifredi describes herself as "a Liberal supporter".
But Cr Lo said he didn't broker a deal with Ms Sifredi and was surprised when he saw the preferences. "Yes, I'm an ALP member, but I'm not running as an ALP member — I'm running as an independent."
In Oakleigh, candidate Tony Nalbant has come under fire for preferencing the Liberal Party's Theo Zographos despite saying he's "a strong supporter of workers' rights" and that "the trade union movement should have a larger role" — both key Labor platforms.
Mr Zographos said the two men had spoken during preference negotiations about what they stood for.
"At the end of the day, he's made his decision to preference what he believes is the right future for our community."
The Weekly has contacted Mr Nalbant for comment.
Ms Mellech and Ms Sifredi did not respond to the Weekly's questions about their political affiliations.