Female quake shakes up Hamilton City Council elections

Maxine van Oosten was elected to council, after previously standing in the 2018 by-election. Photo / Facebook

There may have not been a youth quake around the council table, but there has been a female shake-up with a gender split running evenly down the elected members.

The additions of Kesh Naidoo-Rauf, Maxine van Oosten, Sarah Thompson and the return of Margaret Forsyth, means that council will now have five female councillors and seven male councillors, led by Mayor Paula Southgate.

Garry Mallett, James Casson, Leo Tooman and Siggi Henry are heading for the exit, and van Oosten has called this the perfect result for Hamilton.

"I'm really delighted and at the end of all my speeches I stated that we need a better make-up of our council so it better reflects our city," van Oosten told Hamilton News

"I'm looking forward to working alongside Paula who I have a great deal of respect for who has a great set of ideas for Hamilton."

van Oosten said her number one goal would be getting a living wage for all of the workers of Hamilton City Council and their contractors.

"There is no reason why anyone should be working for less then a living wage. It is not a lot to pay."

Kesh Naidoo-Rauf has been elected onto Hamilton City Council. Photo / Facebook

Naidoo-Rauf was lost for words when she found out she was elected. She was also the second highest polling councillor on the East Ward.

"I'm very excited. It has just taken a few hours to take it all in," Naidoo-Rauf said.

"I'm very pleased with the overall results, and surprised at a few people who were not elected."

She said that the new council now also represents gender fairly, and also has some cultural diversity with her appointment as well.

She was born in Durban, South Africa, but moved to New Zealand 19 years ago for a new life.

She is Indian by ethnicity and a Fijian-Muslim by marriage.

Over 800 special votes are yet to be counted, and there is still a very slim chance that Louise Hutt could be elected on the West Ward over Ewan Wilson.

The official results are due on October 17.

As it stands, the mayor of Hamilton is Paula Southgate, on the East Ward, the councillors are Mark Bunting, Kesh Naidoo-Rauf, Margaret Forsyth, Ryan Hamilton, Maxine van Oosten and Rob Pascoe.

On the West Ward, the councillors are Geoff Taylor, Dave Macpherson, Sarah Thompson, Martin Gallagher, Angela O'Leary and Ewan Wilson.