Gerard Pain's main mandate when he decided to stand for the CHB mayoralty was to save the Makaroro River from the Ruataniwha dam, and give others who felt the same a chance to express their view.
In early results, a not insignificant 604 people responded to that call, and for those people he said he was glad he had provided that option, even though he did not reach anywhere near the polling he would have needed to wear the mayoral chains.
Mr Pain this afternoon congratulated fellow mayoral candidate Alex Walker on her win, and thanked those people who had supported him and voted for him.
"It's been fun and I want to thank the people who supported me with all sorts of things."
Fellow mayoral candidate Sally Butler refused to comment.