Former Labour Party leader Andrew Little has been elected Wellington’s next mayor.
Progress results show Little winning with a landslide majority of 34,240 votes, ahead of second-place Karl Tiefenbacher on 8807 votes.
Ray Chung was third with 6838 votes.
Little said he is honoured to have his voters’ support but said his role is to serve all of the capital’s people, not just those who voted for him.
He said affordable housing and water reform changes are the biggest challenges facing Wellington council.
He thanked Wellingtonians for giving him a mandate to deliver serious leadership and real change for the city.
“I’m grateful to everyone who has put their trust in me and I will honour that trust,” Little said in a statement.
“Wellington faces challenges but I believe that together we have the talent, the ideas and the ambition to get our city back to its best.
“Today’s result is a clear mandate for the plan I put to voters – enabling more affordable housing; faster, more reliable public transport; investment in our community facilities; backing local businesses and getting the council’s costs under control.
“I want to acknowledge everyone who stood in this election. Local democracy is stronger when people step forward with ideas and conviction. I also want to acknowledge outgoing mayor Tory Whanau for her service to the city.”
Whanau failed to secure a spot on the new council, missing out on a Māori ward seat.
Whanau posted on social media that “democracy has spoken”.
“I was not successful in winning the Māori Ward. It would have been an absolute honour but democracy has spoken. A huge congratulations to Mathew Reweti who will be an amazing Councillor and serve our people well.”
Little said he plans to celebrate with a convivial function on the Wellington waterfront tonight.
The progress results represent about 85% of all votes cast and are made up of votes received until Friday evening. They do not include special votes or votes received Saturday morning. Preliminary results will be announced on Monday. They include votes received today, but special votes are still not included until official results are released by Friday, October 17.
Little, after previously ruling himself out, ran as a Labour candidate after announcing his mayoral bid in April.
He ran on a platform of bringing “urgent change” and “serious leadership” to the city.
Little said he had been approached by “a cross-section” of Wellingtonians asking him to run.
He first entered Parliament in 2011 and was leader of the Labour Party and leader of the Opposition from 2014 until 2017, when he stepped aside for then-deputy leader Jacinda Ardern.
Little was a senior minister under former Prime Ministers Ardern and Chris Hipkins.
Since leaving Parliament, Little has worked as a consultant at Wellington legal firm Gibson Sheat Lawyers, which he continued throughout the campaign.
He lives in Island Bay with his family.
Not long after Little confirmed his bid for the mayoralty, incumbent mayor Tory Whanau announced she would not run again despite having already received the Greens’ backing.
Whanau said she wanted to step aside to give Little a clear run at the role and did not want to campaign against another left-wing candidate.
Special votes are yet to be counted. The new mayor and council will be sworn in at a ceremony on October 30.
Ethan Manera is a Wellington-based journalist covering Wellington issues, local politics and business in the capital. He can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz.