Moko Tepania, pictured with his little cousin Tairaukura, is humbled and grateful to have been re-elected as Mayor of the Far North.
Moko Tepania, pictured with his little cousin Tairaukura, is humbled and grateful to have been re-elected as Mayor of the Far North.
Continuing to work on key infrastructure and roading projects and keeping rates affordable for residents will be top priorities for freshly re-elected Far North Mayor Moko Tepania.
Progress results for Far North District Council on Saturday confirmed Tepania was re-elected mayor with 10,502 votes, more than 3600 clear of hisnearest rival Ann Court, and well ahead of Sovereign’s Joshua Riley’s 3156 votes.
As of publication time on Sunday, preliminary results had not come through. The final results, including special votes, will be announced on Friday.
Tepania – who was celebrating with whānau on the Karikari Peninsula - said he was “really surprised” to have won by such a landslide.
“To make it in in the first iteration of the count, it’s very humbling but it also fills me with gratitude.
“There’s a saying in Te Ao Māori; ‘he kanohi kitea’ [seeing is believing].
“I’m excited the people have seen and believe in the mahi I’ve been doing as current mayor and are giving me another go – it’s awesome.”
Tepania (Te Rarawa/Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa) entered local politics as a councillor in 2019, and was 31 when he was elected Northland’s youngest mayor three years later.
The Kaikohe-based te reo teacher was also the Far North’s first Māori mayor and was voted New Zealand’s most popular mayor by the participants in a Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll in March.
He said he was looking forward to seeing the final results to discover who his new council team would be, then getting together to work on “joint priorities”.
Moko Tepania, pictured with niece Bryla Jake, is looking forward to addressing roads and infrastructure and keeping rates affordable for residents.
Tepania said there would be a continued focus on roading, infrastructure and rates affordability under his leadership in the next few years.
“We are going out with the new tenders of our roading contractors to sort out our roads and our waters, and getting a new Northland entity up and running with Kaipara and Whangārei [councils].
“A huge priority over the next three years will be addressing affordability concerns of the people of the Far North, when everyone’s struggling.”
In 2022, veteran councillor Ann Court led a nail-biting race to become Far North Mayor in the initial election-night count before Tepania pulled ahead as special votes were counted.
In the final result, Tepania had 7805 votes to Court’s 7362, a margin of 443 votes.
Court said she was “really happy” with the results this time round.
Mayoral hopeful Ann Court was happy with her results this election. Photo / NZME
Court, who retained her seat in the Bay of Islands Whangaroa Ward with 3259 votes, said it’s “not unexpected” that Tepania was re-elected as mayor.
She reached out to congratulate him “within minutes of finding out the result”, she said.
“I’m a little disappointed with my own results but you never know until you try.”
Riley also stood for mayor in the 2022 election, gaining 2927 votes, as well as running for a councillor seat in the Te Hiku Ward.
This time, the qualified commercial pilot also stood for the Bay of Islands Whangaroa Ward, but didn’t make the cut after gaining 1318 votes.
Newcomer Davina Smolders took the second spot on the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa General Ward, behind Court, and incumbent Deputy Mayor Kelly Stratford took the third and final seat.
The Kaikohe-Hokianga General Ward seat was retained by John Vujcich and incumbent Felicity Foy was re-elected in the Te Hiku General Ward, alongside newcomer Rachel Baucke.
In the Ngā Tai o Tokerau Māori Ward, incumbents Hilda Halkyard-Harawira and Tāmati Rākena have been provisionally re-elected, alongside newcomers Chicky Rudkin and Arohanui Allen.
Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and social issues.
