What makes you qualified to be mayor? Made with funding from NZ On Air.

Hastings mayor receives excellence award upon standing down as LGNZ president.

The Mt Albert byelection has given Jacinda Ardern the street credibility to give Labour a fresh young face in its leadership.

Annoyed at a newspaper's questions, mayoral candidate gives back election donation.

Here are extracts from the five new faces on Auckland Council.

The chairman of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council Doug Leeder explains that the water quality issue is a problem everybody needs to get their heads around, whether they live in a rural or urban environment. Made with funding from NZ On Air.

Labour stalwart Phil Goff's pick of Franklin councillor Bill Cashmore as Auckland deputy mayor signals a centrist path ahead.

The knives are out in the National Party after the centre-right's disastrous result at last weekend's local elections in Auckland.

A losing candidate is adding thousands to the price of democracy, with a recount for the Hamilton mayoralty set to cost up to $35,000.

Andrew King's majority has dropped again, down to just nine votes after special votes were counted. He speaks to Local Focus about his win. Made with funding from NZ on Air.

Paula Southgate has confirmed she will seek a recount of the Hamilton mayoralty after losing to Andrew King by just nine votes.

COMMENT: A variety of radical reforms and technocratic tweaks are being proposed for fixing the problem of low voter turnout. But which of these changes are worth voting for?

Re-elected community board member faces assault charge.

A complete absence of strategic voting has given Hamilton it's most interesting mayoral election in decades. And the final two hopefuls represent very different futures for the city. Made with funding from NZ on Air.

COMMENT: Two-thirds of eligible voters chose not to vote in the local government elections. Should we be unimpressed?

COMMENT: Have we just witnessed the rising red tide of the left, or a no-change election result?

Newly elected Horowhenua mayor Michael Feyen is promising to include the community in decision making. Made with funding from NZ on Air.

John Forbes' early blunder didn't diminish his election result. And he admits his opponent Les Keane ran a good campaign after all. Made with funding from NZ on Air.

The turnout for the Auckland Council election was profoundly disappointing. What has happened to the hopes once held for a unified, strongly led city?

New Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says he wants to stamp his own mark on the city.

Phil Goff's choice for a deputy mayor might be a dramatic break from how his predecessor ran the Super City.

Hamilton's next mayor may not be known for a few days yet.

The preliminary list of members who will serve on the Auckland region's three DHBs has been released.

He started as an outside chance, but Neil Holdom’s strong campaign won him the New Plymouth mayoralty by 500 votes. Made with funding from NZ on Air

Lawrence Yule talks to Local Focus about his 6th mayoral term and insists this will be the last. Made with funding from NZ on Air

A shaking Sheryl Mai, champagne glass in hand, says she is "overwhelmed, rapt and thrilled" with the election outcome. The incumbent

It's fair to assume there will be a fair few sore heads as more than 20 new mayors wake up this morning.

Uninspiring election billboards have been panned by a design expert, who described them as more suited to wallpaper designs than vote-snaggers.

Now the work really starts - it's time for our new leaders to enrol in How To Be A Mayor 101 and head back to school.

The race for Hamilton's top job proved one of the tightest, with progress results suggesting the mayoralty had swung by a whisker to underdog Andrew King.