Runway closure gives Brown a nervous wait

Leanne Brown

A quirk of fate has transformed Tauranga City Council's byelection into a cliffhanger despite Leanne Brown looking like the odds-on favourite to win.

Only 32 votes separate Ms Brown from Clare Wilson, the other leading contender to fill the vacant Mount Maunganui/Papamoa Ward seat on the council.

But the final batch of about 250 postal votes could not be counted yesterday because Christchurch Airport's runway was closed for maintenance from 9.45pm on Monday to 5.30am yesterday - coinciding with the 3am time that the voting papers would have been in transit through the airport.

Postal votes were processed by Christchurch-based Electionz.com, the council's election contractor, with the final count looking like a 30 per cent voter return.

Electionz.com's chief returning officer Warwick Lampp said he was alerted by NZ Post to the likely delays to post and courier packs caused by the runway maintenance. He arranged for the election mail to be intercepted at the Tauranga Mail Centre and couriered to Christchurch, but the parcel did not arrive in time for the mid-afternoon count yesterday which would have settled the issue of who had won.

Mr Lampp said he expected to announce the result in the morning.

Ms Brown, the former Mount Mainstreet manager, was not celebrating although she has been told that statistically the person who holds a narrow lead usually went on to win.

"It is not over until the fat lady sings ... it is still very close."

Ms Brown said the low turnout of voters meant the council had to look at introducing the option of electronic voting, particularly when NZ Post was removing suburban post boxes. She wondered how NZ Post's decision to reduce deliveries would impact on voting systems.

Ms Wilson said she was naturally disappointed because of the narrow margin.

She said she had no regrets about her decision not to use roadside election signs. Her reasons not to use roadside signs remained valid, including the environmental impact and aesthetics of signs.

Murray Guy said he did not stand as an out-of-ward candidate in order to keep his profile high in the lead-up to next year's election. "I am not into playing games with democracy."

He expected a higher level of support in reaction to the "secret society" run by the current council but realised it was always going to be difficult to win when many Mount people still regarded those living on the other side of the bridge as the enemy.