Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has been accused of hating democracy during a heated debate about forcing businesses to vote in City of Sydney elections.

"You hate democracy, don’t you,’’ Liberal councillor Edward Mandla asked Cr Moore, before accusing her of being party to an ‘‘elaborate scheme to silence the business vote".

The proposal is widely interpreted to threaten Cr Moore’s political stronghold by flooding elections with tens of thousands of new voters, whom many reckon are likely to be more conservative than those who have elected her for three terms.