• North Island: Local election results AUCKLAND COUNCIL - RUAPEHU DISTRICT COUNCIL • North Island: Local election results

Auckland mayoral candidate Chloe Swarbrick has already been approached by political parties.

In a "rare interview" Mary Goff, wife of newly-elected Mayor Phil Goff, says her husband is probably the best person for the job.

An hour before Greg Brownless heard he had been elected mayor, he was balancing up whether to move the chicken coop or mow the lawns.

Unopposed Napier Mayor Bill Dalton says he has conflicting emotions about the new Napier City Council table.

Justin Lester was getting a haircut when he took the phone call telling him he had won the race to become Wellington mayor.

Garry Webber has been elected Western Bay of Plenty mayor in a tightly contested race.

Lianne Dalziel has thanked voters for placing their trust in her as she romped to a landslide re-election victory today and pledged: "I won't let you down".

Northern Hawke's Bay farmer Craig Little has been elected to a second term as Mayor of Wairoa in an expected result despite a strong challenge from departing three-term councillor Benita Cairns.

Today's local body election result is a resounding victory for CHB mayoral candidate Alex Walker, who in the preliminary count has come in with about twice the vote of rival Sally Butler.

Incumbent mayor Tony Bonne looks to have regained his position.

With the progress results now in, representing an approximate 95 per cent of all votes received, all incumbant councillors at Stratford District Council have retained their seats.

Taupo mayor David Trewavas has been returned to the top job with over a 5500 vote margin at the progress stage.

Preliminary results are in for most parts of the country in today's local council elections.

Full preliminary results for 2016 local body elections for the North Island.

3.05pm: Re-elected mayor Steve Chadwick has confirmed Dave Donaldson will again be her deputy mayor. Mrs Chadwick and her supporters

INTERACTIVE: Explore the local election results as they come in.

INTERACTIVE: Explore turnout maps, wasted votes and numbers of female candidates in the 2016 local elections.

COMMENT: Once again the democratic process has been diverted by a large donation to a single candidate.

#WillSheVote? Hinekia Fitzgerald has made her decision.

A Wellington boy was worried outgoing mayor Celia Wade-Brown would miss her mayoral chains - so he made her some new ones out of chocolate

COMMENT: Fear of prime Pukekohe growing land being lost to development seems to have become a last-minute Auckland Mayoral race issue.

Voters need to assess which of candidates looks more capable of doing so. The elections matter and so does your vote.

Please vote TODAY. Today is the last day to post voting papers to be sure they meet the Saturday deadline for the local body elections.

It seems there's little motivation, especially for the young, to have their say on who should run our towns and cities.

Local government appears to be headed towards an existential crisis - a situation in which few of us care enough about the existence

Latest figures show just 19.88 per cent of votes have been returned in Auckland, with some areas as low as 16.3 per cent.

#WillSheVote? Lifelong Local Body election non-voter Hinekia Fitzgerald hears from candidates on her journey to the polls.