THE official recount of votes for the Lockyer Valley and Somerset Council elections is well under way.

In the Lockyer Valley, the official first-preference count sits at 62.74 per cent complete as of 1pm yesterday.

The results don’t differ much from the preliminary count, with Chris Wilson leading with 11.7 per cent of the vote.

It’s now all but certain first-time candidate Brett Qualischefski, along with sitting councillors Chris Wilson, Jason Cook, Michael Hagan and Rick Vela will secure seats in the new council.

The final seat is turning into an extremely tight contest between sitting councillor Janice Holstein and former councillor David Neuendorf.

On the last update of the preliminary count with 74.34 per cent counted, Cr Holstein led Mr Neuendorf by 325 votes.

But the official count has shrunk that lead to just 13 votes.

In the Somerset council race, results are much clearer cut.

Barring a sudden resurgence from Mike Tanner, first-time candidate Kylee Isidro will be joining the Somerset council team.

Fellow first-timer Jason Wendt has also secured a seat – stunning sitting councillors to claim lead position with more than 13.5 per cent of the vote.

The sitting councillors running for re-election – Bob Whalley, Sean Choat, Cheryl Gaedtke and Helen Brieschke – have all retained their seats, so far.

While just 43.37 per cent of the official vote count was completed at 1pm yesterday in the Somerset, the results are closely following the preliminary count.