Final election results for Whanganui show close council race

Andrew Tripe (right) finished well ahead of Hamish McDouall (centre) and DC Harding on election day. Photo / Bevan Conley

The final results are in for Whanganui's 2022 local elections, and it was a close-run contest for the last seat at the council table.

Ross Fallen claimed the 12th seat with 5720 votes, 66 more than one-term councillor James Barron.

James Newell and Dan Jackson also came close, with 5631 and 5425 votes respectively.

New mayor Andrew Tripe finished with 8518 votes, beating out Hamish McDouall (6337) and DC Harding (675).

McDouall won the mayoralty in 2016 with a total of 6745 votes before running unopposed in 2019.

A total of 333 blank voting papers for the mayoralty and 123 for the council were received this year.

Helen Craig was the most popular council candidate, securing 9308 votes, with Kate Joblin the next with 8811.

Fallen will be joined by fellow first-termers Charlotte Melser (7171 votes), Michael Law (7457), Peter Oskam (6498) and Glenda Brown (7046).

Oskam was previously the chairman of the Whanganui Rural Community Board.

A byelection to fill his seat on the board will be held after the triennial elections have been finalised.

Elections were not required for the Kai Iwi Community Subdivision and the Kaitoke Community Subdivision.

The turnout for Whanganui finished at 46.44 per cent or 15,611 votes.

In the 2019 elections, 44.17 per cent of all eligible votes were returned.