THE Greens have made strong gains at the Moreland Council election, with former mayor Samantha Ratnam predicting the party will double its number of seats.

The party looks set to claim four seats in the council chambers, more than any other party.

Votes for Ms Ratnam soared, with the Greens candidate so far receiving 5499 votes (a 55.37 per cent share) for South Ward.

“We’re really pleased with what we’ve seen,” she said.

“So far it looks really positive ... We’ve had two seats previously (one in the North-East Ward and one in the South Ward), now we will hopefully have four seats.

“We’re just really hopeful we will be able to get out and start implementing policy.”

Greens candidate Natalie Abboud has so far secured 3456 votes (a 22.89 per cent share) for North-East Ward, with Socialist Alliance candidate Sue Bolton and independent Annalivia Carli Hannan also popular.

Labor candidate Oscar Yildiz, Greens candidate Dale Martin and independents John Kavanagh and Helen Davidson are well placed to take out the North-West Ward seats.

This would be the first seat in the North-West Ward for the Greens.

Ms Ratnam said while it was still “early days”, with postal and early votes yet to be counted, she believed the Greens’ success was due to their clear policies.

“Some people would say, a lot of voters didn’t actually know what the other candidates were standing for, which was quite confusing,” she said.

“With the Greens, our policies are clear and you know what you’re getting when you vote for us.

“In terms of having more representatives than major parties in Moreland, I can only say that the people know we’re hard working, they like what they’re getting and so they vote for us.”

She said one of the party’s main areas of concern was the quality of urban development in Moreland, in particular affordability, height control and livability.

‘It’s also very important for us to see carbon emissions brought down by creating more active forms of transport and encouraging solar on homes,” she said.

Despite her passion for Moreland, Ms Ratnam said it was too early to know if she would run for Mayor again.

“I love the position of mayor, it would be a privilege ... but it’s a bit too early,” she said.

“I want to see what the make up of this next council is like.”

Final election results should be unveiled on Friday.