Christchurch judicial recount - Nats Nicky Wagner confirmed

National MP Nicky Wagner. Photo / Geoff Sloan

National MP Nicky Wagner has been confirmed as the winner of the Christchuch Central seat after the result of a judicial recount.

Last Saturday's official result had Ms Wagner ahead of Labour's Brendon Burns by 45 votes. Mr Burns requested a recount and the result, released today, saw Ms Wagner increase the winning margin to 47 votes.

The result of a recount for the seat of Waitakere is still pending. On Saturday's result Labour's Carmel Sepuloni won the seat by 11 votes ahead of National's Paula Bennett.

The final Christchurch Central count is:
WAGNER, Nicky (National): 12,064
BURNS, Brendon (Labour): 12,017
MOORHOUSE, David (Green Party): 2321
COOKE, Michael (Conservative Party): 439
CHANDLER, Luke (Independent): 138
SEVERIN, Toni: (ACT New Zealand): 110

Neither Ms Wagner or Mr Burns were immediately available for comment. Mr Burns may still lodge an election petition in the High Court, but he has previously said he was not considering that at this time.

The recount was brought as a result of an application filed by Mr Burns on 12 December.
It was conducted under the direction of a District Court Judge on 13 December at the headquarters of the Returning Officer for the Christchurch Central electorate in the presence of candidate scrutineers.