Rotorua mayoral race: City poll result

FILE

The majority of Rotorua residents are still undecided about which mayoral candidate they will vote for in October's elections.

The Rotorua Daily Post conducted a non-scientific poll of 600 people in the city this week which revealed that 38.6 per cent (232 people) of those polled did not know who they would vote for.

There are five candidates for mayor of Rotorua this year - Janine Rangimarie Bosma, Steve Chadwick, Helen Hindmarsh, Rob Kent and incumbent Kevin Winters.

With six weeks to go until election results are released on October 12, Mrs Chadwick was second to the "don't knows" with 31.5 per cent (189 votes).

"It is a surprise as the campaign proper has not begun in earnest," Mrs Chadwick said.

"The trend shows more work is needed on the ground with the 38 per cent undecided being the key to the result.

"This is a concern as the city needs a clear mandate and that's a greater majority than any one candidate has."

Mrs Chadwick said she was using Facebook, her website, cottage meetings, billboards and newspaper, radio and television advertising to boost her profile.

"As I am not the incumbent there is a lot of ground to have to catch up ..."

Mr Winters, who got 21.8 per cent (131 votes), said the poll highlighted the large number of undecided voters.

"The result from this poll for me highlighted the 'don't knows'.

"I want to take this opportunity to make sure all electors make an informed decision and use their democratic right to vote," he said.

Rob Kent, who received 5.3 per cent of the votes (32 people), said the poll clearly indicated 61.4 per cent of people already cared enough to have an opinion.

"If this translates to people actually voting, we can expect a much bigger voter turnout than in the last election as I have already predicted, indicative of the strong demand for change.

He said change was in the wind but he was yet to fully launch his campaign "other than by having so far put up a comprehensive website and a few billboards".

"It will be very interesting to see how the poll results change over the coming weeks as campaigns swing properly into gear and we have public debates of a serious nature."

Helen Hindmarsh, who got 1.8 per cent (11 votes), said she had not been focused on an election campaign as she was more concerned about finding out what the real issues facing people in Rotorua were.

She said it did not matter who people voted for as she believed the council had already signed over its decision-making powers to Grow Rotorua Ltd, a council-controlled organisation set up to help boost the city's flagging economy.

"It's a passive takeover of local government by the Chamber of Commerce. The council will become a puppet regime to Grow Rotorua Ltd," she said.

Janine Rangimarie Bosma got 0.83 per cent (5 votes).

"Such results don't direct my future that's for sure.

"More fake voting from a fake system. My face is still the face of the future [rather] than these other old biddies," she said.