Vince Cocurullo (inset, top) and Ken Couper (inset, bottom) are in a tight race to be the next Whangārei Mayor. Photos / NZME
Waipu’s Ken Couper has jumped into first place ahead of rival Vince Cocurullo in Whangārei’s tight mayoral race.
Cocurullo was initially leading Couper by 67 votes in Saturday’s election progress results. Cocurullo had 9841 votes and Couper 9774 votes.
But late Sunday afternoon’s preliminary results saw a leadership switch with Couper now on 12,003 votes and Cocurullo on 11,696.
The once 67-vote margin between the two rivals has now grown to 307.
But both contenders say that while the 307-vote margin still means the race is a close one, their approach to the hurry-up-and-wait leadership battle has changed little from Saturday’s progress results, in spite of the leadership switch.
Couper said in the wake of the switch that he was pleased to have moved into first place.
“But it definitely doesn’t mean we can go ahead and celebrate,” he said.
“It’s steady as she goes until the final results.”
Meanwhile, Cocurullo said he was unphased about the leadership switch and what was still a small margin.
“It’s the nature of politics,” he said.
There were a lot of special votes still to be added into the mix ahead of the final official voting declaration.
Cocurullo said what was playing out with Whangārei’s Mayoral election was an outcome of the council using the Single Transferable Voting System (STV) voting system, rather than First Past The Post (FPP).
He voted against this change in his council’s 2023 decision to bring in STV for the 2025 and 2028 local elections – Whangārei District Council’s first electoral system change in a generation.
Cocurullo said the council should have polled its people on this change first.
Sunday’s preliminary council results include all ordinary votes cast in Whangārei’s local elections, but not special votes.
Special votes need to be checked by the Electoral Commission this week and will be factored into the final Whangārei District Council numbers when the official declaration of these happens.
Couper said that final outcome might not be known until early next week.
Both contenders said it was important the outcome of the local election was known as soon as possible.
Dairy farmer Couper said it was critical that due process played out, but confirming who would be mayor was necessary so the important job of helming a large organisation with a number of people could get under way.
Computer business operator Cocurullo said resolving the matter was important so the new mayor could get on with setting up the new council as soon as possible to keep New Zealand’s seventh-largest city humming.
He said Whangārei played an important role in Northland and it was vital the council could keep moving forward once the election was resolved.
Couper said it was a case of a business-as-usual approach whilst trying to deal with constantly considering the election outcome.
He said the ups and downs of politics were a normal part of the job.
Business as usual had included on Sunday mowing the lawns and attending a meeting of the Waipu 150 Trust, a community group focused on celebrating the settlement’s strong Nova Scotian heritage.
Meanwhile, Cocurullo was volunteering at Whangārei’s Maritime Festival and hanging out with community, which he said had always been important to him.
His first media interview after being elected Whangārei Mayor in 2022 was whilst volunteering at the Women’s Rugby World Cup event in the city.
Cocurullo said the people of Whangārei were speaking as part of the process of democracy and that was what was most important to him and would always be.
Neither mayor-in-waiting would be drawn on whether they would challenge the final official voting decision, if finishing a close second in the race for the top job.
Sunday’s preliminary results showed that of the other mayoral hopefuls, Marie Olsen had 8155 votes, up from the initial 6937 progress votes, Brad Flower had 5759 votes, up from 4721, and Fiona Green 683 votes, up from 574.
Sunday’s results have produced a mix of old and new among the council’s 2025 14-member line-up.
Couper is currently topping preliminary results voting for returning to Bream Bay General Ward, according to Sunday’s results. Act Local candidate Ruakaka’s Matthew Yovich is currently ranked as the second-highest vote winner for this ward.
Due to STV, what happens over which contender will step into the ward’s second seat if Couper becomes mayor won’t be decided until the final official voting declaration.
Meanwhile, there are only 123 votes between Tangiwai Baker, who has been provisionally elected to the Whangārei Heads General Ward’s single seat in Sunday’s preliminary results with 1369 votes, and contender Spence Penney, who has 1246 votes.
Ngunguru’s Scott McKenzie has been re-elected in the Hikurangi-Coastal General Ward along with newcomer Stephen Gregory Martin.
Mangakahia-Maungatapere General Ward’s Simon Reid is back again in his electoral area’s single seat.
Whangārei District Māori Ward politicians Deb Harding and Phoenix Ruka have also been returned for a second term.
Two of the Whangārei Urban General Ward’s five councillors will be unsuccessful mayoral contenders, returning politician Olsen and newcomer Flower, who both also stood in this electoral area. They will represent the ward with fellow returnees Paul Yovich and Nicholas Connop.
Previous Whangārei District politician Chrichton Christie has also been elected to represent this ward.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.