Stand as an individual independent
Nominate for one Assembly district or one Council region. Independent nominations need 6 enrolled district nominators for Assembly, or 50 enrolled region nominators per candidate for Council.
Nominate for one Assembly district or one Council region. Independent nominations need 6 enrolled district nominators for Assembly, or 50 enrolled region nominators per candidate for Council.
A registered party can endorse a candidate and lodge their nomination and deposit centrally. Endorsement depends on that party’s own process; appearing on an announcement list is not yet formal nomination.
At least two successfully nominated candidates in the same region can group together, specify their order and share a ballot column and above-the-line box. Independent-only groups cannot request a party group name. Ungrouped candidates appear below the line. VEC group rules.
An unregistered organisation can participate without registered-party ballot benefits. Later registration needs at least 500 eligible members, a constitution, an officer, an application and verification. Votes are not memberships, and winning a seat does not waive registration requirements. Registration process.
VEC appointments: 4-6 November, 9 am-5 pm; 7 November, 9 am-1 pm. Monday 9 November is reserved for corrections. Any new Monday lodgement needs prior discussion with the election manager. Full eligibility and nomination instructions.
Deposits are refundable if elected, withdrawn in time, or the applicable 4% first-preference condition is met; grouped Council candidates have a group-total provision. Electoral Act, deposit provisions.
A member changing party affiliation does not, by itself, lose their seat. That does not create a registered party or retrospectively change the ballot. The VEC cannot consider or complete registration between issue and return of the election writ. Registration carries an indexed fee; check the current amount with the VEC rather than relying on its older July 2025 dollar figure. Electoral Act, sections 45-46, 180 and 236 · Current registration guidance.
A public candidacy announcement can trigger political-finance duties before nomination. A dedicated state campaign account, disclosure registration and financial records may be required. For 15 April-28 November 2026, the ordinary donor cap is $5,190 per recipient; reportable donations at the $1,290 threshold must be disclosed within 21 days. An approved new entrant may have a $10,380 cap; that higher cap is not automatic.
Donation rules and thresholds · State campaign account · New-entrant rules.
Websites and social posts made by or for candidates or regulated entities can need electoral authorisation. A non-commercial label alone does not decide these obligations. VEC authorisation guidance. This workbench does not collect nominator details, create accounts, accept payments or lodge applications.
Group voting tickets no longer apply. Voters must number at least five boxes above the line or at least five below the line. A five-member region’s quota is the whole number of formal votes divided by six, plus one (roughly 16.7%). Transfers and the full count matter; that is not a guaranteed first-preference winning target.
VEC: 2026 changes · VEC: counting votes482 sourced candidate records: 407 Assembly and 75 Council, across 14 affiliations. Checked 2 October 2026. This is a verified minimum from a bounded primary-source pass, not a complete field or final ballot. There are 481 announced records and one explicitly preselected record; none is asserted to be formally VEC-nominated.
Explore announcements across affiliations. Office-holding alone is not evidence of recontesting. Missing names or parties mean unverified coverage, not absence or withdrawal. Council ticket order is not inferred. Socialist Alliance is an announced affiliation, not a verified registered ballot label. One Nation’s registered Victorian name is One Nation Victoria.
Labor’s 37 and Nationals’ 6 records exclude unsupported incumbent assumptions; neither has a verified Council record in this pass. Fusion says candidates are being finalised. No November candidate was verified in the bounded searches for Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, Australian Citizens, Christian Alliance - Reform AU, DLP, Free Palestine, Put Australia First, Safety Victoria, The Republican, Frontline Workers, Ian Cook’s Fair Go Party or Victorians Party.
Independent leads Ali Cupper, Ron Nelson, Raymond French and Steve Manning remain unverified here. Two Animal Justice Party pod assignments conflict with the current directory and agreeing profiles: Chloe Nicolosi is retained once for Bundoora and Rachel Unicomb once for Broadmeadows. Their cards preserve the source conflict. Uncorroborated pod and secondary-news claims are retained in research notes, not added as candidates.
Per-party coverage, source method and separate historical/review records