Former Whangārei Mayor Vince Cocurullo. Photo / Susan Botting
Former Whangārei Mayor Vince Cocurullo has not sought a vote recount after losing the city’s top job.
Cocurullo said he wanted to move forward rather than look back.
He would not comment on what relationship his decision had to the 433-vote margin in his loss to new Mayor Ken Couper, who had 12,416 votes compared with his 11,983.
Cocurullo said he needed to spend time with his wife after her mother died on October 3.
The local elections ended on October 11.
Meanwhile, Kaipara mayoral vote challenger Snow Tane is expecting to hear today whether his mayoralty vote recount will happen.
Tane, who received 3117 votes, is challenging new Kaipara Mayor Jonathan Larsen, on 3138 votes, after 21 votes separated the two.
Tane lodged his application for a judicial review in the Whangārei District Court on Monday.
A virtual meeting between district court Judge Kevin Kelly, Larsen and Tane was then held on Tuesday.
Tane said he was expecting a decision on his application for the judge to rule on whether there was a case for a recount today.
He said if the judge ruled there was, he hoped the recount would happen within “a few days”.
Tane said it was important for the matter to be resolved as soon as possible so the business of the council could proceed.
He would accept the judge’s ruling, whichever way it went.
Judge Kelly sought further information from senior electoral officer Dale Ofsoske after Tane’s application. This was about special votes for Kaipara District Council (KDC).
Tane said his team was now preparing a further submission for the judge’s consideration after receiving that information.
He said his application was based on wanting transparency about KDC’s special votes.
There were 198 special votes out of KDC’s 486 special votes that were allowed. But almost 60% were disallowed – not being enrolled on the Māori or general electoral rolls was the reason for almost 70% of these.
Tane is one of three KDC election candidates seeking a judicial vote count review.
Former Ōtamatea general ward councillor Mark Vincent lodged his application on Wednesday after missing out on a return to the electoral area by two votes.
Former Wairoa general ward councillor Ash Nayyar, of Dargaville, did so on the same day.
Nayyar is currently in sixth place among 13 candidates who stood in this ward.
Mayoral hopeful Tane also stood as a councillor in the ward, where he is topping its election results with 2443 votes.
A domino effect will be created if Tane becomes mayor, vacating his ward-topping position.
Second-ranked Joesephine Nathan (1444 votes), of Dargaville, will be assured of one of the ward’s three seats and would shift to the ward’s top spot if that happens.
Currently third-ranked and new Deputy Mayor Gordon Lambeth (1345), of Dargaville, would move into her vacated second-ranked spot and the second of the ward’s three seats.
There are 187 votes separating Nayyar from Lambeth – and two people ahead of him in the vote rankings.
Tangiteroria’s Jan Beatty (1334) is 176 votes ahead of Nayyar, Dargaville’s Pera Paniora (1318) is 160 votes ahead.
Based on current results, Beatty would currently be next in line to move on to the council via the ward’s third seat in a reshuffle. She has currently missed out.
Beatty is just 11 votes behind Lambeth and is not seeking a recount.
Former Māori ward councillor Paniora is 27 votes behind Lambeth but based on the current Wairoa general ward results, isn’t seeking a recount.
Currently ranked sixth, Nayyar (1158) is 187 votes behind Lambeth, 176 votes behind Beatty and 160 votes behind Paniora.
His Kaipara mayoral bid was unsuccessful with 1278 votes.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.