Eileen Lawson wins Hastings/Havelock North byelection for council

Eileen Lawson says she feels grateful and privileged to have been elected the new Hastings/Havelock North ward councillor. Photo / File

Hastings District Council byelection candidate Eileen Lawson has secured the Hastings/Havelock North ward seat with a significant majority, according to preliminary results released yesterday afternoon.

The byelection was held to fill the seat left vacant when sitting councillor Sandra Hazlehurst was elected mayor in last November's byelection.

As of yesterday afternoon, Mrs Lawson had secured 3424 votes ahead of Stuart Perry with 1809, Bruce Bisset, 1500 votes, Chris Perley, 1136 votes, Rion Roben 898 votes and Alezix Heneti, 501 votes.

The voter return was sitting at 28.52 per cent of eligible voters, or 9307 votes, and at 3pm yesterday 34 special votes were yet to be processed.

Mrs Lawson, who was in Wellington on a course yesterday afternoon, said she was excited to have won the seat.

"I feel really privileged and am grateful and thank the people that supported me."

While campaigning she said she came across a number of issues for voters, and had no doubt there was a lot of work ahead.

"They talked about the increasing busyness happening on the roads, the vibrancy of the inner city, water is still a concern for quite a few people and the track [Craggy Range track] was another issue that came up quite a lot."

She expected that initially her time would be taken up with learning the ropes, and then she would start getting behind the things she felt she could add value to.

Mrs Hazlehurst congratulated Mrs Lawson and said she looked forward to her starting and sharing the load with the team.

"Congratulations to Ms Lawson for making the commitment to serve our community. I know she will grasp the opportunity with both hands."

The mayor also thanked all the other candidates who stood.

"We are really fortunate to have people wanting to make a difference."

Second-placed Stuart Perry said the result wasn't what he expected, but that was democracy.

"Many of the councillors are punched out of the same mould so I don't expect as ratepayers we will see any improvement.

"Not being elected won't stop me taking council to task whenever I can."

In congratulating Mrs Lawson on her win, Bruce Bisset said this was "probably" the last time he would stand for a council seat, and thanked his supporters for their efforts on his behalf.

"I'm not surprised at the result but, without meaning any disrespect, I think it's unfortunate that only a couple of Hastings district's councillors actually live in Hastings itself, while neither Ms Lawson nor second-place getter Stuart Perry live in the ward," Mr Bisset said.

"As an advocate of local democracy with the emphasis on local, that's something voters could perhaps give more thought to next time around."

Chris Perley congratulated Mrs Lawson and said there were some very good people in the council, but he hoped they would start to take a more long-term view of where the council was heading.

"I think they need to put themselves out 40 years and think about preparing for the future and the next generation."

Rion Roben more than doubled his vote from the previous byelection in November last year, and said he wished Mrs Lawson all the best.

"She was a very close contender last time - this result is good and I am pleased for everyone in the community that the candidate who was most aligned with my beliefs won."

He said he would likely run in the local body elections again next year.

Hawke's Bay Today was unable to reach Alezix Heneti.

The confirmed final result is expected by tomorrow.