Local elections 2022: Race for second Hamilton Māori Ward seat still to be decided

The Settlement Centre in Boundary Road was one of three Hamilton sites offering drive-thru voting and special voting on Saturday morning. Photo / Peter Tiffany

With more than 3000 votes cast in Hamilton on Election Day now counted, the preliminary results show that the two Kirikiriroa Māori Ward councillors are now Moko Tauariki and Melaina Huaki.

Tauariki received 704 votes so far and Huaki received 549 votes.

The progress results on Saturday afternoon indicated Māngai Māori Te Pora Thompson (391 votes to date) would be one of the new Māori Ward councillors alongside Moko Tauariki.

The final election results, made up of preliminary results and all special votes, will be announced on Thursday, October 13, signalling it will be a close race to the finish line for the second Māori Ward seat.

For the mayoralty, the preliminary results reaffirm Paula Southgate as the front-runner for re-election with 15,607 votes. Former deputy mayor Geoff Taylor received 13,838 votes in the mayoral race, but has been re-elected as a city councillor.

On Saturday afternoon on Facebook Taylor accepted his defeat in the mayoral race, posting: "Sorry all I feel like I let you down. A huge thanks to you all for your amazing support and a huge thanks to those who gave me generous financial support to help me run a campaign I was proud of.

"Massive thanks to my wonderful wife Julie, my family and friends and a band of incredibly big-hearted, selfless supporters."

Hamilton used a new voting for the first time this year, the Single Transferable Vote (STV), where voters rank their candidates in order of preference instead of ticking the box next to the candidate's name.

According to preliminary results, Hamilton's new East Ward councillors are Anna Casey-Cox (2736 votes to date) and Andrew Bydder, alongside previous councillors Ryan Hamilton (2905 votes), Mark Donovan (2264 votes), Maxine van Oosten (2243 votes) and Kesh Naidoo-Rauf (2216 votes).

The candidates having been provisionally elected for the West Ward are Emma Pike (1861 votes) and Louise Hutt (1669 votes), as well as previous councillors Geoff Taylor (4548 votes), Angela O'Leary (2125 votes), Ewan Wilson (1802 votes) and Sarah Thomson (1777).

With special votes still to be counted, Hamilton's voter turnout sits at 28.8 per cent.