I am not a lawyer either but I doubt whether councillors voted in by business representives can be considered "democratically elected".
Well, it certainly does not represent "the demos". Local government is certainly the last bastion of "property rights" determining voting. Property conditions existed in the Legislative Council of Victoria for some time as well.. "Incremental changes were made to the rules governing membership and voting qualifications for the Legislative Council between 1908 and 1950. In 1908 women were granted suffrage for Legislative Council elections. In the same year, property conditions for voters were relaxed to £10 of freehold property or a £15 annual lease. In 1922 Legislative Council Members first received a wage (£200 per year), the minimum age for a Member was reduced to 21 years of age in 1937 and in 1950 universal adult suffrage was adopted in the Legislative Council." c.f., http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/council/publications-a-research/information... All the best, -- Lev Lafayette, mobile: 0432 255 208 http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1855.txt