Some mayoral races were decided by five votes or less.
Only eight votes have separated two candidates for mayor and some results have been flipped after the final results for the local government elections have been released.
Nearly a week after the close of voting, New Zealanders will know who will be leading their local councils for the next three years.
Some results had been settled in the preliminary results, but others have seen results confirmed with the release of the final results.
The Westland District Council mayoralty looked like it was heading towards an upset, with 82-year-old Jacquie Grant leading incumbent Mayor Helen Lash.
However, that result has been flipped, with Helen Lash keeping the mayoralty by a margin of eight votes.
Had the results stayed as they were, Grant, who has been living as a trans woman since 1971, would have become the first transgender mayor since Georgina Beyer as well as the country’s oldest mayor.
Kaipara’s mayoralty race was just as close, with preliminary results showing Deputy Mayor Jonathan Larsen beating Snow Tane by five votes.
Third placed Jason Smith, who has been elected mayor twice before, has a vote count just 31 behind leader Larsen.
However, controversy has clouded the results after outgoing Mayor Craig Jepson called an emergency meeting in a bid to lodge an election complaint.
Jepson said he had serious concerns about irregularities in the election process and wanted councillors to join him in lodging a complaint and requesting an investigation.
The meeting was adjourned after just 25 minutes after a 76-year-old member of the public in an RNZAF cap and blazer approached the council table and refused to move.
Whangārei‘s race for mayor was slightly less tight than those already mentioned, with independent Ken Couper provisionally elected ahead of second-placed Vince Cocurullo by 307 votes.
An extremely tight race in Hastings meant the mayoralty was decided by special votes.
The final results declared Wendy Schollum as the new mayor, finishing 599 votes ahead of her closest rival, Marcus Buddo.
Buddo chose not to concede after the preliminary results were released and waited for the final results.
Preliminary results gave Schollum a lead of 545 votes over Buddo, which she ultimately extended in the final results.
Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau will be out of office after she failed to win the election for the Te Whanganui-a-Tara Māori Ward, losing out to Labour’s Matthew Rewiti.
Whanau pulled out of the mayoral race after incoming Mayor Andrew Little decided to run. She said she would focus on returning as a councillor.
This result brings an end to Whanau’s turbulent three years as mayor of the capital city, including false sexual rumours from other council members such as mayoral candidate Ray Chung.
Chung finished third in the race for Wellington Mayor, but did secure election to the Wharangi/Onslow-Western General Ward.
Elsewhere, a 24-year mayoral stint in Upper Hutt for Wayne Guppy comes to an end after his loss to challenger Peri Zee by more than 1500 votes.
Other incumbent mayors to lose their positions include Dunedin’s Jules Radich, who finished fourth in voting; Sam Broughton in Selwyn, who received nearly 14,000 fewer votes than eventual winner Lydia Gliddon; while Kirsten Wise in Napier lost her role to Richard McGrath.