A Baird government move to grant businesses two votes in local elections has jeopardised the re-election chances of Sydney’s long-serving independent lord mayor Clover Moore.

On Saturday, Ms Moore faces a challenge from high-profile Liberal candidate Christine Forster, the sister of former prime minister Tony Abbott.

Experts say voting changes, which allow businesses two votes in council elections, will help Ms Forster, who is seen as a more business friendly candidate.

Experts said the 2014 changes were designed to “put the council back in the hands of the business community”, or Liberal control.

University of Sydney electoral politics expert Dr Peter Chen told The New Daily the changes were a deliberate Baird government ploy.

“The conservatives would prefer the City of Sydney was run as a business-oriented council,” Dr Chen said.

“It is them saying ‘Sydney City Council should be run by serious-minded business people and we’ll rejig the electoral system regardless of how people vote’.

“Clover Moore has been successful in changing council agenda from favouring business interests that are based in the centre of the city, to an expansive regime about environmentalism and live-ability for example.”

But the Baird government’s attempt to corral a Liberal party candidate into the position could backfire, according to Dr Chen.

“They didn’t manage to enrol that many businesses to vote, and it was nowhere near the sort of enrolment they were looking for,” he said.

Ms Forster (bottom left) and Mr Abbott (top, second from right), with the rest of the Abbott family. Photo: AAP

“Also the majority of businesses that vote aren’t the big end of town, Most businesses in the city are kind of small and medium enterprises, So whether they object to Clover Moore is up in the air.”

The Baird government – which supported the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party-introduced bill – argue the two business vote amendments mirrored the City of Melbourne’s model. Businesses pay approximately 80 per cent of total rates taken by the City of Sydney.

However an independent review into Melbourne’s two-vote for business system – implemented by the Kennett government – concluded that it should be scrapped.

Dr Chen told The New Daily it is not uncommon for council elections to be influenced by legislation in this way.

“State governments can influence smaller councils like this without anyone realising, but people take more notice of bigger ones like Sydney,” he said.

The race for office

While she is the sister of a much maligned ex-PM, Ms Forster has had an accomplished career in her own right.

She became a Sydney councillor in 2012 and previous to that was an energy industry journalist for many years. Ms Forster had once planned to run for the NSW Legislative Council, but is now vying to become Sydney’s mayor.

Ms Moore is running for her fourth consecutive term in office. Photo: AAP

“The first thing that my leadership will bring is a change of culture,” Ms Forster told Fairfax Media.

“Instead of a lord mayor who’s been all about ‘me, me, me,’ my style of leadership will be one which is a cabinet style.”

Ms Moore agreed the Baird Government’s changes to voting eligibility for this weekend’s election may backfire with voters.

“They can see it for what it is a gerrymander cobbled together by [former Liberal councillor] Edward Mandla and the Shooters Party, and enacted by the Baird Government,” she said.

Ms Moore was elected lord mayor in 2004 and her team gained a majority despite the Carr government’s expansion to the boundaries of Sydney City in a bid to install a Labor candidate.

– with ABC