[2] Like in all other New South Wales local government areas, Sydney City Council elections use optional preferential voting.

[8] However, in 2014, then-Liberal premier Mike Baird introduced a law for that gave businesses that own, lease, or occupy rateable land in the City of Sydney two votes each.

[12][13] Following Labor's victory at the 2023 state election, independent MP Alex Greenwich wrote to the new local government minister, Ron Hoenig, requesting that the business vote was removed.

[15] The Libertarian Party contested Sydney City Council for the first time, choosing Sean Masters as their lord mayoral candidate.

[19][20] Socialist Alliance campaigned on a platform of creating an "anti-racism and anti-war council" with "housing, environmental, and economic justice".