Hawke's Bay elections: Final results confirmed as Jacoby Poulain ousted in tight race

It was a close race between Henare O'Keefe and Jacoby Poulain. Photo / File

Jacoby Poulain has officially been ousted as a Hastings District councillor.

The election race between Flaxmere's two long-standing councillors; Henare O'Keefe and Poulain ended with the latter narrowly missing out.

She also missed out on being re-elected as a Hawke's Bay District Health Board member.

Poulain gained significant media attention, and subsequently earned the ire of her board, after coming out against the HBDHB over the attempted uplift of a newborn baby from its mother at Hawke's Bay Hospital.

Final results for the 2019 Local Body Elections were released on Thursday, some days after they initially came out.

On Saturday, preliminary results showed 46 votes separated O'Keefe in second place and Poulain, who came in third and is no longer a Hastings District councillor.

Throughout the week, the margin slowly edged closer, with just 36 votes between the two on Wednesday.

In the end, newcomer and Labour-backed candidate, Peleti Oli came out on top, with 1140 votes. O'Keefe won 893 and Poulain, 842.

The results are a far cry from 2016 when Poulain comfortably retained her seat with 1429. O'Keefe came in behind her at 1210 votes.

Sandra Hazlehurst has also been confirmed as mayor, with 13,188 votes, beating Damon Harvey with 10,120 votes.

Apart from Oli, two new councillors have also been announced; Heretaunga Ward councillor Alwyn Corban will join now two-term councillor Ann Redstone.

Sophie Siers ran unopposed in the Kahuranaki Ward. They will be joined by returning councillors; Harvey, Tania Kerr, Bayden Barber, Eileen Lawson, Simon Nixon, Wendy Schollum, Geraldine Travers, and Kevin Watkins.

Napier

Although the race for Napier mayor was straight forward with Kirsten Wise winning with 13,967 votes, more than 8800 votes clear of her next rival Chris Tremain, some of the council seats weren't as straight forward.

Ahuriri, Nelson Park and Taradale wards all had tight finishes for final seats.

Hayley Browne was the clear winner in Ahuriri with 2853 votes but it was a tight scrap for the final seat with Keith Price, 1412, narrowly beating James Crow, 1327, by 85 votes.

Nelson Park saw a close finish with the bottom three candidates separated by 93 votes for the final seat with Greg Mawson taking the last spot with 1742 votes, along with Maxine Boag, 2965, Apiata Tapine, 2414, and Sally Crown, 1904.

Taradale was a close race all round with just 383 votes between the top and sixth place with Ronda Chrystal, 4780, Tania Wright, 4646, Nigel Simpson, 4514, and Graeme Taylor, 4514, taking home the seats.

CHB

For Central Hawke's Bay District Council, Thursday's final announcement cemented Alex Walker's return for a second term as mayor.

Walker is joined by five returning councillors Tim Chote, Gerard Minehan, Tim Aitken, Brent Muggeridge, and Kelly Annand, and three new faces Exham Wicham, Jerry Greer and Kate Taylor.

Walker returned a 4650-vote margin, gaining 4984 votes in total. Her rival Darcie Meremere Tū Ahiahi Scowen returned 334 votes in total.

The final results include special votes and votes that were in transit to the processing centre on election day.

HBRC

The latest confirmed results for Hawke's Bay Regional Council have stayed the same with Hinewai Ormsby, 11,838, Neil Kirton, 11,576, and Martin Williams, 10,312 all confirmed for Napier as well as Will Foley, 3592, for CHB and Rick Barker, 7075, Rex Graham, 6799, and Craig Foss, 6486, all announced for Hastings.

The Wairoa and Ngaruroro seats are still to be confirmed.

Results are also yet to be confirmed for Wairoa District Council but don't expect a change to the preliminary announcement with Craig Little more than 1000 votes ahead in the race for mayor.