Metro

Still ain’t over – key contests set for runoffs

The races for comptroller and public advocate headed to runoffs in two weeks, and Bill Thompson was officially crowned the Democratic nominee for mayor last night.

The results came in quickly after polls closed at 9 p.m., thanks, in part, to a shockingly low turnout of less than 12 percent, with a mere 320,000 votes cast in the Democratic mayoral primary.

In the comptroller contest, with 99 percent of precincts reporting, Queens Councilman John Liu, who had the Working Families Party support, took 38 percent of the vote, while Brooklyn Councilman David Yassky was in second place, with 30 percent.

COMPLETE RESULTS

Queens Councilwoman Melinda Katz got 20 percent, while Queens Councilman David Weprin had 11 percent.

A candidate has to take 40 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff. Liu and Yassky will now go head to head in a Sept. 29 runoff.

The comptroller is the chief financial officer of the city, analyzing the budget and auditing agencies. The comptroller also is in charge of the $80 billion municipal pension system.

Brooklyn Councilman Bill de Blasio and Mark Green will face each other in the public-advocate runoff.

De Blasio, who was the WFP’s top priority in city races, had 33 percent while Green polled 31 percent in a bid to regain his old job.

Queens Councilman Eric Gioia received 18 percent, while civil-rights lawyer Norman Siegel got 14 percent.

Experts privately said Green’s best shot was hitting the 40 percent mark to win outright last night, given how well-known he already is to the electorate and how tough it will be for him to garner fresh support. And either way, he had been expected to finish first.

“People are tired of him,” said one Democratic strategist. “He’s old, he’s tired and de Blasio is fresh and has the Working Families Party muscle behind him.”

Board of Elections officials said they had 9,035 valid absentee ballots to sift through, and they won’t certify the top vote-getters in the citywide races for several days.

The night’s other big winner was the WFP, which — despite being mired in controversy over whether it helped its preferred candidates skirt campaign-finance spending limits — fared well in its first real foray into major city races.

In addition to Liu and de Blasio, five WFP-backed candidates won.

In the least surprising race of the night, Thompson beat Councilman Tony Avella to become the Democratic nominee against Mayor Bloomberg.

maggie.haberman@nypost.com