Local elections 2025: Weston Kirton re-elected as mayor of Ruapehu

Weston Kirton says he was expecting a tight race for the mayoralty.

Weston Kirton will be re-elected as Ruapehu Mayor.

Progress results show him ahead of Lynn Neeson, Grant Lethborg and Fiona Kahukura Hadley-Chase under the single transferable voting system.

In Ruapehu general ward, Luke Pepper, Rabbit Nottage, Robyn Gram, Viv Hoeta, John Chapman and Breanda Ralph have been elected, with Kuru Ketu, Koty Wilson and Channey Iwikau winning the district’s Māori ward seats.

Kirton told the Chronicle he had expected a tight mayoral race this year.

He was mayor from 1995 to 2001 before starting his second stint in 2022.

“We did our best to present ourselves well and we ran a pretty clean campaign,” Kirton said.

“We put our policies out and it sounds like the people can resonate with that.

“There was a bit of rubbish around on Facebook and the like, but you just get on with it.”

He said he really appreciated the support he received during the campaign and over the past three years.

“I hope we can keep that momentum going, with things like the Chateau, the waters [reform] and the skifields.

“We want to make things better for the whole district.”

Māori ward referendum

The district’s Māori ward referendum is close, with 1861 in favour of their retention and 1800 against after 85% of the vote has been counted.

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.