Nearly 30,000 voters deserted Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard between 2004 and 2007, final voting figures show.
Mr Hubbard achieved a landslide win over John Banks in 2004 with 65,167 votes. This was 51.2 per cent of the vote and represented about 25 per cent support among registered
voters.
In Saturday's local body election, Mr Hubbard mustered 35,314 votes after a difficult three years marred by infighting, soaring property and water rates, and poorly managed projects such as the Queen St upgrade.
Mr Banks beat Mr Hubbard by 10,073 votes, but his tally of 45,387 votes was nearly the same as the 46,151 votes he obtained in 2004.
Third placegetter Alex Swney attracted 10,677 votes and two other candidates, John Hinchcliff and Steve Crow, got more than 5000 votes each.
The final results confirmed razor-slim majorities for two new councillors. Mark Donnelly won a seat in the Eden-Albert ward with a 12-vote majority and Denise Roche took the Hauraki Gulf seat by only 11 votes.
