Withdrawn Western Bay Maketū candidate Shane Beech's 'bittersweet' brush with victory

Maketū man Shane Beech withdrew from the Western Bay of Plenty elections for health reasons. Photo / Stuart Whitaker

Maketū stalwart Shane Beech is feeling "blown away" after receiving enough votes to become a councillor - despite having withdrawn his candidacy.

Beech was standing for a Te Puke-Maketū ward seat on the Western Bay of Plenty District Council but stepped down two weeks before voting opened for health reasons.

"I pulled out graciously, in plenty of time, but unfortunately the [voting] pamphlets were already printed," he said.

Beech's withdrawal was covered in media articles and on social media. The council also publicised Beech's removal from the race.

Despite this, when voting closed last weekend, preliminary results showed Beech had enough votes to be elected - had he still been standing.

"I didn't do any campaigning or debates or anything like that to encourage the votes but on the other side of the coin, I'm super humbled by what did happen," he said.

Of the 12 candidates standing for the four ward seats, incumbent councillor John Scrimgeour is set to be elected with the highest number of votes with 2432, followed by fellow incumbent Grant Dally (1829), former Te Puke Community Board chairman Richard Crawford (1786) and newcomer Andy Wichers (1563).

Beech received 1688.

"To get those votes was bittersweet, in a way," he said.

"I was certainly blown away when I saw it."

Beech is well known in the community for his roles including more than 30 years in the Maketū volunteer fire brigade, serving as president of the Maketū volunteer Coastguard, and for running the Maketū Beach Holiday Park and Maketū Beachside Cafe.

He also served 12 years on the Maketū Community Board, nine of those as chairman.

Beech said it was a shame he was not able to serve the people "who put me in that regard and have faith in me" but his health needed to be prioritised.

"My health [issue] is heart-related," he said.

"I've got some procedures coming up that I felt would have not put me in the right frame of mind of doing the real job of being a councillor. That's part of the reason I made the decision to stand down. I'm obviously going through a healing time."

However, Beech's political aspirations have not waned.

Beech said he intended to stand again for the next local body elections in three years' time.

"I'm not on death row or anything but I really needed the time away from stress-related activities and to come right."

Beech avoided election news at the weekend so it was not until a couple of friends called him to let him know he was still receiving votes.

He said the votes were "humbling" and "unexpected" and wished the elected candidates every success on the council.

The other candidates successful in being elected as councillors in the Western Bay elections were Don Thwaites, Tracey Coxhead, Murray Grainger, and Margaret Murray-Benge for the Kaimai ward, and Allan Sole, Anne Henry and Rodney Joyce for the Katikati-Waihī Beach ward.

Former councillor James Denyer was elected mayor.

In the Auckland Council election, high-profile mayoral candidate Viv Beck amassed thousands of votes despite having abandoned her campaign the day postal voting started.