Gisborne’s likely first-term councillors react to preliminary results

Gisborne District Council appears set to have four new first-term councillors following the 2025 preliminary election results. This includes Māori ward candidate Anne Huriwai (top left), and general ward candidates Sam Gibson (top right), Jeremy Muir (bottom left), and Alexandra Boros (bottom right).

Gisborne’s residents have had their say on who they would like to represent them, with a well-known conservationist and former news editor getting the tick.

Incumbent Mayor Rehette Stoltz has secured her third term, saying she is humbled to lead the region forward.

Four new councillors have been provisionally elected to join the table, but one long-term councillor looks like they’ve missed out.

Councillor of seven consecutive terms Andy Cranston might have missed out, with 1026 votes – 94 votes behind his closest competitor, based on preliminary results (which are about 97% of the votes).

However, special votes are yet to be counted, with official results expected by Friday.

Speaking with Local Democracy Reporting, Cranston said he was a bit disappointed but was not surprised.

“Every election, the community does put out a call for change, so it’s not surprising ... Disappointing, though, because I still felt I had lots I could contribute.”

Māori wards will also be retained, following strong support from the community, with 9454 electors voting to keep them and 5569 voting to remove.

Almost half (46.3%) of 34,067 enrolled voters had their say, including 4877 of the Māori ward and 10,897 of the general ward.

This is ahead of the nationwide provisional voter turnout results of 38.01%, according to Local Government New Zealand figures.

The final number, which will include special vote counts, is yet to be counted.

Election day saw 20.11% of voters cast their votes last-minute, with 2,322 votes from the general ward and 877 votes from the Māori ward.

Who are the new councillors?

Preliminary results released yesterday show that four first-term councillors are likely to join the team.

This includes general ward councillors Sam Gibson (1184), Jeremy Muir (1189), and Alexandra Boros (1174) and Māori Ward councillor Anne Huriwai (758).

Gibson, who is currently living on the West Coast of the South Island, told Local Democracy Reporting he thought Gisborne had selected a great team on the council (provisionally).

The conservationist, dubbed “Sam the Trap Man”, said he was excited to come home permanently in January, which would be in time for their kids to start school.

Gibson would work with council chief executive Nedine Thatcher-Swann and Mayor Rehette Stoltz on a mixed model of spending some time in Gisborne and doing work online between now and January, he said.

Gibson was interested in both “hitting the ground running” and also keen to learn from many of the people at the table.

“I’m really excited that Rehette has been re-elected as the mayor. I have utmost respect for her.”

Muir, a former Gisborne Herald editor, said he was thrilled with the support he received.

He said he was looking forward to working with councillors to turn some of the key things discussed during the campaign trail into reality.

“Especially around more community-wide collaboration and transparency.

“There seems to be a mandate for this in the election results, so I hope we’ll find consensus early and help drive it throughout the organisation.”

He was also rapt “with the big yes result” in the Māori ward referendum.

“It shows the bicultural strength and aroha of our community, and is a foundation to set the council and our region up for future success,” he said.

Alexandra Boros, an artist and interior designer, said she was relieved after the hard work of campaigning.

“The effort a candidate puts in is likely indicative of how much energy they will give to the role if they are elected.

“So I feel very relieved right now. And curious to learn and collaborate in order to do well for our community.”

She said on Saturday she was “mindful” that the results still needed confirmation, but had had dinner with her husband and parents and “talked local politics of course!”

“The CBD is on my doorstep, so I live with the issues each day. It’s at a crucial stage right now, the spotlight is on it, so naturally this topic is important to me,” she said.

Anne Huriwai, who has predominantly worked for Iwi, said she was both incredibly “proud and humbled” by the preliminary results for the Māori Ward.

“Thank you for every single vote – your trust means everything. This was a journey we took together, and what a journey this has been!

“I gave it my all, and I’m incredibly pleased that hard work has paid off. Anne with a P.L.A.N. is ready to get to work for our people and our place,” she said.

Who else could join the council table?

From the provisional results, it appears the four Māori ward councillors seeking re-election all successfully gained a seat, with Aubrey Ria gaining the most votes at 1113, followed by Rhonda Tibble (793), Rawinia Parata (789) and Nick Tupara (826).

In the general ward, it seems likely that Debbie Gregory has secured her third term (1142), and Collin Alder (2621), Rob Telfer (1179) and Teddy Thompson (1120) are on track to secure their second terms.

Larry Foster (1148) looks to have secured his fifth term (the first of which was in 1989, and the last four consecutively).

Official results would be verified and published by Friday, October 17, the council’s chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swann said.

Vote counts have been rounded down to a whole number.