Former Ruapehu mayor and Horizons Regional councillor Weston Kirton has been elected as Ruapehu Mayor preceeding Don Cameron who didn't seek re-election this year. Photo / John Chapman
Former Ruapehu mayor and Horizons Regional councillor Weston Kirton has been elected as Ruapehu Mayor preceeding Don Cameron who didn't seek re-election this year. Photo / John Chapman
Ruapehu, Ōtorohanga and Waitomo elected familiar faces as mayors with all three leaders having previously held the role.
Ruapehu welcomes its former mayor Weston Kirton, who led the district from 1995 to 2001, while Waitomo re-elected Mayor John Robertson and Ōtorohanga re-elected Mayor Max Baxter.
Ruapehu Mayor Kirton received 1757 votes and precedes Don Gordon who announced earlier this year he is not seeking re-election. Kirton previously served as a Horizons Regional councillor.
The recent representation review has seen major changes to the Ruapehu District Council, meaning the council now has only two wards, the Ruapehu Māori Ward and the Ruapehu General Ward, instead of four wards.
With special votes yet to be counted, it is going to be an exceptionally tight race for the sixth Ruapehu General Ward seat which sees previous Waimarino-Waiouru Ward councillor Viv Hoeta (426 votes) going head to head with council newbie John Chapman (421 votes).
According to current results, Hoeta has been elected as Ruapehu General Ward councillor, however, the final results, available from tomorrow, might change that.
The five other councillors preliminarily elected for the Ruapehu General Ward are council newbie Brenda Ralph (431 votes), previous Ruapehu Ward councillors Lyn Neeson (644 votes) and Robyn Gae Gram (565 votes), as well as previous Waimarino-Waiouru Ward councillors Rabbit Nottage (461 votes) and Janelle Hinch (443 votes).
The unsuccessful candidates, apart from Chapman, are Peter Zimmer (303 votes), Molly Jeffries (104 votes), Iris Pahau (138 votes), Brian Portland (204 votes) and Bobby Tupu Rata (90 votes).
Ruapehu's three new Māori ward councillors are Korty Wilson (213 votes), Channey Duncan Turoa Iwikau (212 votes), and Fiona Kahukura Hadley-Chase (177 votes).
Waitomo Mayor John Robertson has been re-elected. Photo / Andrew Warner
Candidates Rob Moke (36 votes), Pita Pehi (135 votes) and Corey Wynyard (77 votes) have been unsuccessful.
Ruapehu is the only council in Waikato that has previously used and continues to use the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system.
With special votes yet to be counted, Ruapehu's voter return sits at 48.92 per cent (4134 votes).
Meanwhile, John Robertson has been re-elected as Waitomo mayor with 1369 votes. Unsuccessful mayoral candidate Andy Connors received 1183 votes so far.
With special votes yet to be counted, it is a tight race for Te Kuiti Ward candidate Luke Moss who received 639 votes and is only 12 votes behind preliminarily elected Eady Tanirau Manawaiti (651 votes).
The other two successful Te Kuiti Ward councillors are newbie Dan Tasker (654 votes) and previous councillor Janene Louise New (773 votes).
According to preliminary results, there will be four new faces on the council across the two wards. The three Waitomo Rural Ward councillors are newbies Janette Osborne (895 votes) and Gavin Todd (724 votes) and previous councillor Allan Goddard (689 votes).
Former councillor Phil Brodie (586 votes), as well as Ross Herewini (341 votes), Ronald Takerei (323 votes) and Marilyn Park (222 votes) have been unsuccessful.
Waitomo's voter return currently sits at 43.07 per cent (2609 votes).
Otorohanga Mayor Max Baxter has been preliminarily re-elected. Photo / Supplied
Neighbouring district Ōtorohanga has preliminarily re-elected Max Baxter as its mayor. Baxter received 1429 votes so far, while his competitor and previous Kāwhia-Tihiroa ward councillor Kit Jeffries received 1327 votes.
The two councillors elected for the Rangiātea Māori Ward are Jaimee Tamaki and Roy Willison who both received 188 votes.
This means candidates Donna Hemara (117 votes), Wikitoria Tane (110 votes) and Gabrielle Kuiahine Morgan (86 votes) were unsuccessful.
For the two vacancies in the Kāwhia-Tihiroa Ward, previous councillors Annette Williams (497 votes) and Kit Jeffries (488 votes) have been re-elected.
Candidate James Mahara received 331 votes and has been unsuccessful.
Waipā Ward councillor is previous councillor Roy Johnson (247 votes) who has been re-elected. Fellow candidate Neville Gadd received 116 votes and was unsuccessful.
The two Ōtorohanga Ward councillors are Steve Hughes (459 votes) and previous councillor Katrina Christison (481 votes). Candidate Peter Coventry (358 votes) was unsuccessful.
Ōtorohanga District elected two councillors unopposed. Previous councillor Rodney Dow will represent the Kio Kio-Korakonui ward and Cathy Prendergast will represent the Wharepuhunga ward.
With special votes yet to be counted, Ōtorohanga's voter return sits at 44.05 per cent (2801 votes).
Due to a large volume of special votes received across the country, final election results for all councils will be delayed to as late as Saturday.
