Local Government Election Results

Written By: - Date published: 12:14 pm, October 12th, 2013 - 208 comments
Categories: elections, local body elections, local government - Tags:

The polls are now closed and the count is under way.  I will update this post as results come in but in the meantime some predictions.

Len Brown to comfortably retain the Auckland Mayoralty …

Lianne Dalziel will win by a mile in Christchurch …

Celia Wade Brown to be returned in Wellington on preferences basically because people cannot stand the thought of a John Morrison mayoralty …

Dave Cull to hold off a challenge by Pete George in Dunedin.

Stay tuned for the results as they come in.

UPDATE:

Len has won comfortably, Richard Northey has missed out which is a real loss, Christine Rose lost to Linda Cooper out west which is a real shame and Ross Clow is still behind Noleen Raffles in Whau.  But there are solid left majorities on the Whau and Puketepapa Boards with five Labour candidates elected to Whau and two to Henderson Massey.  And Future West did well in Waitakere …

In Christchurch Lianne Dalziel has bolted in.  Well done.

FURTHER UPDATE:

Auckland Council looks like it is finely balanced.  There are six lefty councillors (Lee, Casey, Hulse, Walker, Watson, and Filipaina), three centrists (Darby, Walker, and Anae), and ten on the right (Webster, Wood, Cooper, Fletcher, Krum, Penrose, Cashmore, Quax, Stewart and Brewer).

Whau is going to be close with the latest count suggesting that Clow (Labour) is ahead of Raffills (former C&R but now independent).

The mayoralties were interesting.  Celia Wade-Brown won in Wellington, Shadbolt won in Invercargill, Hardacre won in Hamilton and Duynhoven lost in New Plymouth.  And former Labour MP Stevie Chadwick won the mayoralty in Rotorua.

208 comments on “Local Government Election Results ”

  1. CC 1

    Hope you are right about Wellington MS but not too confident. Wellington.Scoop has been up with the play about Morrison but the MSM have been busily plying the anti-Wade-Brown lines of the business community and giving the brain-dead contender a pretty uncritical press.

    • mickysavage 1.1

      The beauty about STV cc is that a solid majority can eventually form against a candidate and I expect this is what will happen in Wellington. But yes it could be close. I am sure we will not know the result today.

    • millsy 1.2

      I think Morrison will edge out CWB. From where I am sitting she underestimated the roading rednecks, and her promises of light rail betrayed a complete misunderstanding of a) public transport law and b) political climate.

    • RedBaronCV 1.3

      I like to think that Morrison’s shopping letter will have inspired at least a few to vote against him who might otherwise have not turned out. I think it will be CWB.

      The bulk of the candidates were against” let’s have progress and concrete ourselves a road” apart from the hard right and some of the younger one’s had the “it’s so yesterday” look on their faces so hopefully that is recognised in the turnout and for once I think the left are more motivated than the right.

      CWB’s refusal to spend $350000 on her temporary office will have been noted too.

  2. millsy 2

    Meanwhile, here in New Plymouth we look set to get a slash and burn ACT-type council.

    Harry Duynhoven has struggled as mayor, finding it haard to control some of the egotists down here, as well as people screaming about art funding even though it accounts for only 7% of the council budget. Then he chucks some of the ACT type a bone by ripping out half our rubbish bins, resulting in a more messier district,

    • ghostwhowalksnz 2.1

      Millsy, the mayor doesnt rip out anything !

      he is only one vote on the council, which is the same as other councillors.

      Its not like the US where the mayor is more akin to a CEO

      Sounds like your council is at the slash and burn stage before the election

      • millsy 2.1.1

        Well it was the mayor who commissioned a review of service levels that resulted in the bins being ripped out.

        The slashing and burning will get worse after today. But it looks like that’s the case for all councils, seems to be a bidding war over the cuts they want to cut.

        I dont blame people for not voting.

        • Colonial Viper 2.1.1.1

          Look to your council management, if you want to identify the real power.

          • muzza 2.1.1.1.1

            CV – Correct!

            The “power”, of councils has been removed from the elected members, and is firmly with the suits, who control the purse stings, and control the direction and vibe of our cities!

            To think the elected members are influential in any meaningful way, is outdated!

        • Linz 2.1.1.2

          All the more reason to vote if you ask me.

        • ghostwhowalksnz 2.1.1.3

          What nonsense. The mayor cant commission anything, it has to be approved by the council.

          You still dont understand how it all works do you.

          Anyway hes a goner

  3. Bill Drees 3

    NZ Labour leadership needs to develop a nationwide strategy for local elections.
    We will use the Labour brand in as many places as possible.
    We will make local politics relevant to everyone.

    • Lanthanide 3.1

      “We will use the Labour brand in as many places as possible.”

      I’m pretty sure the parties that contest the national elections are not allowed to stand in the local elections, hence why none of them do. But you get the various proxies like Citizens and Ratepayers in Auckland which are aligned with National/Act, and City Vision which I believe is aligned with Labour? I can’t, and don’t, keep track of any of that, though.

      • Shaz 3.1.1

        You are wrong. Just for the record.Labour and Green candidates are standing in Wellington for example.

      • Tamati 3.1.2

        Nope- in South Auckland most left wing candidates run as Labour. The results so far show them doing well.

      • lprent 3.1.3

        Wrong – there are several Labour tickets in Auckland

      • Rich 3.1.4

        In FPP areas like Auckland, it makes more sense to have a coalition like City Vision contest the progressive vote. In Wellington, Labour and Green run separate campaigns, and I imagine Labour voters mostly give their second prefs to the dominant left-wing party.

      • Rich 3.1.5

        In FPP areas like Auckland, it makes more sense to have a coalition like City Vision contest the progressive vote in many wards. In Wellington, Labour and Green run separate campaigns, and I imagine Labour voters mostly give their second prefs to the dominant left-wing party.

    • That can have negative consequences too, if their local candidates don’t meet expectations or become unpopular. I’d say both Labour and the Greens need to protect their brands when dabbling in local politics, but should utilise them well. I think we’re beginning to see that in Wellington, and I hope Auckland was also the same as people are saying. 🙂

  4. ratesarerevolting 4

    LBIAFC !

  5. Draco T Bastard 5

    Len Brown as mayor

    Apparently Lianne Dalziel has also been elected mayor of Chch.

    • tinfoilhat 5.1

      Woeful ……. another 3 years of Len Brown putting up the rates, pandering to big business, grossly overpaying his sycophants and CCO managers and stuffing Auckland’s finances.

      Good on Lianne Dalziel she will be excellent for Christchurch.

      • Herodotus 5.1.1

        http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1308/S00258/council-development-charges-reined-in-to-assist-housing.htm
        What do you think that nationals proposal will do for rates. Who us to pay for the new infrastructure to support growth ?
        And do you think any savings to developers will be reflected in reduced pricing of housing ? Property development pricing is not based on a cost plus, any fool who tells you this should be avoided and their credibility should be greatly diminished. It is based on market forces.

      • Draco T Bastard 5.1.2

        another 3 years of Len Brown putting up the rates,

        Contrary to what most NZers seem to think, you really can’t get anything for less than it costs no matter what the economists and RWNJs say.

      • muzza 5.1.3

        tinfoilhat…

        The Mayor , does not put up rates!

        Clearly you have no idea where the revenue disappears to, or potentially what sort of spending directly impacts rates bills, so let me give you a hint!

        Consultancies, independent consultants, contractors (paid well over market rates) and other crony appointments who control entire departments purse string. Procurement processes, unmanaged contracts internal/external, central govt legislative changes which relieve council of revenue streams (new booze bylaws), AC have to foot the bill, and won’t see a cent of revenue, the list is endless!

        Thats before the “accounting methods” are considered, asset write-downs/revaluations, off the book derivatives (swaps), its all designed to steal the city assets from the people!

        The Mayor(s), have no power to stop it…go look into it!

        Dalziel won’t do squat for ChCh, why anyone would think it makes a difference is beyond me.

        Which council underwrites the debt of most NZ councils again…oh yeah!

    • tc 5.2

      I took that link, its that woman bashing shock jock veitch……warning next time please DTB I came straight back and am off for a shower.

      • The Al1en 5.2.1

        Yep, kicked her so hard he broke her back. Should never be forgotten what type of man he is.
        I’d never show my face again in public, let alone get on the radio. What’s that about having no shame. Croc teared mea culpa just won’t do it for me.

        • Paul 5.2.1.1

          He knows the right people and says the right things.
          How to get on in the New Zealand of today…

        • QoT 5.2.1.2

          Should never be forgotten what type of man he is.

          And before anyone says “Oh, give him a second chance” I always like to note (a) that he’s suffered very little in terms of his career, and (b) second chances are for people who actually want to change, not abusive shitbags who say things like “I make no excuse for my behaviour, except to say …” followed by a long list of excuses.

          • Matthew Whitehead 5.2.1.2.1

            He can have a second chance somewhere where he has absolutely no influence over public opinion. I do not want anyone who commits violence against women in the media.

    • lprent 5.3

      Saw him heading into the Kingslander when I was having lunch. He looked happy.

  6. Pascal's bookie 6

    Dave Cull to hold off a challenge by Pete George in Dunedin.

    Big call.

    • lprent 6.1

      Damn. Why did the people of Dunedin fail to move him off the blogosphere and into something more suited to his unique talents

      😈

      • Pete 6.1.1

        I left him unranked on my ballot, but points to him for standing and doing what he could to get involved. Now if we can avoid Hillary Calvert winning a seat on council, I’d be happy.

  7. Pascal's bookie 7

    Julie Fairey (who has retained her board spot) is tweeting the hell of the Akl results as she gets them:

    http://twitter.com/juliefairey

  8. Tracey 8

    why have cameron brewer’s billboards been thanking for his re-election for 3 weeks?

    • Colonial Viper 8.1

      Did anyone stand against him in his ward? Was he elected unopposed?

      I see Lianne won the Christchurch mayoralty by a mile…over 3x more votes than the no 2 choice for Mayor. Well done.

    • lprent 8.2

      From memory he was the only candidate in his ward

      • mickysavage 8.2.1

        Yep. Nest time someone needs to stand up and oppose. Even in the most blue of places democracy works better if someone does.

  9. Bill Drees 9

    Labour wins Whau Board.
    The Labour campaign in Whau ( New Lynn 80%) won 5 of the 7 seats.
    This is a great success for Labour’s Ross Clow, Catherine Farmer, Susan Zhu, Ruby Schaumkel and Simon Matafai.

    Running RED Labour brand is local elections is now proven to work.
    Debate over.

  10. Bill Drees 10

    Ross Clow is 89 votes behind Raffills in Whau.

    Recount

  11. Ant 11

    We really should have online voting in 2013. The way the local body elections have been run has been pathetic, the turnout is equally pathetic.

    • Colonial Viper 11.1

      No to online voting. If you can’t get off your ass to vote, your opinion should be discounted.

      • Draco T Bastard 11.1.1

        Really CV? Didn’t realise that you were so much in favour of creating a class system.

        • Colonial Viper 11.1.1.1

          Call it what you want, but no online voting for you mate.

          • Draco T Bastard 11.1.1.1.1

            We’ll get it and probably sooner rather than later. Just have to make sure that it’s not on dedicated voting machines with proprietary software on them.

            • Colonial Viper 11.1.1.1.1.1

              Yes because the internet and webapps and protocols like https and PC operating systems/Android/OS X have proven to be so secure and uncompromised. I mean what the fuck.

              Why not just gift your democracy away to the intelligence services Draco.

              • Sanctuary

                Voting ought to be a celebration of democracy. To that end, I would make voting day for local body and national elections a mid-week paid public holiday to anyone who votes, and just an unpaid day off for those that don’t.

                And I would fund street parties, food festivals and stuff in parks for people to get out and celebrate the vote, after they’ve voted.

                • Colonial Viper

                  Now you are talking good sir 🙂

                  Back that 101%!!!

                • Tamati

                  Election day in Australia is quite an occasion apparently. Pretty much every booth has a massive sausage sizzle, perhaps we should implement them here?

                  • Murray Olsen

                    Voting in Australia can take quite a while, with papers a metre or so long, and hundreds of names to rank. If people weren’t fed, they’d drop dead of hunger. Having an Aussie BBQ (best in the world, cobber!) means they survive long enough to get home and be sick when they see who gets into the Senate.

              • Draco T Bastard

                Yes because the internet and webapps and protocols like https and PC operating systems/Android/OS X paper trails and people have proven to be so secure and uncompromised.

                How many peoples vote was lost because they marked it slightly incorrectly? How many don’t vote because placing a special vote is too much hassle? One that I’ve heard in Auckland this election: How many don’t get to vote because their voting papers never turned up?

                Both systems can be compromised and both systems can be instituted in such a way so that any compromise will be found and acted upon.

                • Tamati

                  I received precisely four ballot papers for the previous tenants of my flat. I’d be highly surprised if any of them voted.

                  What if we held local elections the same day as general elections? Happens overseas.

                • Stephen

                  No, they really can’t.

                  Think about the success of spam and phishing, think about how easy DDOS is to do, think about how successful most large government IT projects are, and then think about how much you really trust the intregrity of an online system.

                  At least paper can be verified by any group of reasonably intelligent lay people. With an online system you’re reduced to a small group of experts saying “trust us” (and to be clear, I am one of those kind of people and I work for a firm that would likely tender to build such a system).

                  What I really don’t get is that people tout online voting as the answer to low voter engagement, but any research I’ve seen suggests that it’s about disillusionment with contemporary politics, not the difficulty of casting a vote.

                  When people are motivated, they will go to great lengths to vote (eg see how African Americans defied all the disincentives the GOP put in their way in Ohio to turn out for Obama). When they don’t give a shit about the candidates or parties, they won’t vote no matter how easy it is.

                  • karol

                    Agree, Stephen.

                  • Ant

                    People tout online voting as part of a solution to low turnouts, not the solution. In local body elections the postal ballot is just as open to abuse and fraud as any online vote would be.

                    It’s only a matter of time before online voting is the norm, there’s no reason why it can’t be part of a suite of methods for voting.

                  • Colonial Viper

                    DTB is still operating out of a religion of progress, ‘it’s high tech so it must be better’ paradigm.

                    Of course someone can nick a couple of dozen voting papers out of letter boxes down the street and fill them out, or maybe make a ballot box with a few hundred votes in it go missing.

                    But with online and networked systems you can tamper with hundreds of thousands (or millions) of votes simultaneously, in a co-ordinated manner.

                    To paraphrase lessons learnt the hard way by the Colonial Fleet – there’s very good reasons for not networking the computers on a Battlestar, despite all the claims of ‘increased speed and efficiency’ and ‘modernisation’.

                    After all, why take a robust proven system and replace it with something fragile and easily breakable?

                    • karol

                      And so say all of us.

                    • Colonial Viper

                      Nice one karol 🙂

                      And so say we all.

                    • karol

                      Oh. I didn’t quite get the words right, CV. 🙁

                      Next time 🙂

                    • Ant

                      The Pegasus did okay with modern systems until Lee dinged it.

                    • Draco T Bastard

                      DTB is still operating out of a religion of progress, ‘it’s high tech so it must be better’ paradigm.

                      Don’t kid yourself.

                      To paraphrase lessons learnt the hard way by the Colonial Fleet – there’s very good reasons for not networking the computers on a Battlestar, despite all the claims of ‘increased speed and efficiency’ and ‘modernisation’.

                      Yes, because everything that happens in a fictional story translates perfectly across to the real world.

                      But with online and networked systems you can tamper with hundreds of thousands (or millions) of votes simultaneously, in a co-ordinated manner.

                      And be caught. Well, at least detected and controlled.

                  • Draco T Bastard

                    Think about the success of spam and phishing,

                    What’s the actual percentage? Sure, it works but usually through someone’s stupidity and not through the vulnerabilities of the system. Throw in security tokens and a standard phishing scam won’t work either.

                    think about how easy DDOS is to do,

                    And think about how easy it is to make online voting available over 30 days instead of half a day.

                    At least paper can be verified by any group of reasonably intelligent lay people.

                    Online voting can be verified by the person casting the vote which can’t be done with a paper system. I have no idea if my vote was properly counted and no way of finding out with a paper system but such would be an integral part of an online system.

            • Sanctuary 11.1.1.1.1.2

              voting machines are a solution in search of a problem.

              • Draco T Bastard

                The solution that online voting is the solution to is representative democracy.

              • Murray Olsen

                That’s what they said about lasers. No one had any idea what to do with them, but it’d be interesting to try living without them today.
                I think online voting will become available. The main problem is not in the voting, but rather what a government with the slimmest of majorities does for the whole of the term. Fundamentalist right wingers like the Key, Abbott, Cameron, or Bjelke-Newman governments can do a hell of a lot of damage in three years.

    • RedBaronCV 11.2

      One size doesn’t fit all , I don’t agree with online voting, a lay person can’t tell if it has been manipulated but why not postal ballots, plus online option plus actual booths well marked for the two weeks of local body elections

  12. Tracey 12

    He is not my area cv but I hope someone did stand against him

    • Colonial Viper 12.1

      Ahhhhh unfortunate then, from August:

      http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/18548051/brewer-set-to-be-re-elected-in-orakei-unopposed/

      Auckland Councillor for Orakei, Cameron Brewer, said he was not expecting to be re-elected unopposed and will hit the campaign trail regardless, keen to get some more centre-right councillors elected across Auckland.

      “Getting elected unopposed is a rare occurrence for any councillor and political torture for someone like me who loves retail politics. Rest assured I won’t be taking the foot off the pedal. I want to see a few more political colleagues around the table.

      “Hearty congratulations to Howick councillors Dick Quax and Sharon Stewart who will also be re-elected unopposed. Our early re-election will hopefully enable a bit more public and media focus on some of the critical battleground wards.”

  13. Len Brown mayor of auckland, Daziel mayor of christchurch. No surprises there. Hopefully Daziel will really get the east of chch up and running.

    Some upsets along the way in some councils, not good news for the far left side of labours party.

    John Minto finishing fourth, most people here, said he could upset for second and most likely finish third, that must be a huge blow for the Mana party given Auckland’s maori population.

    With all the media attention Anjum Rahman got, over the other candidates in hamilton east, surprised she only finished in eight place, I may totally disagree with what she says, but she seems hard working.

    Overall election results seems a victory for those who are either centre left or centre right.

    Not good for the ideologists.

    • Draco T Bastard 13.1

      John Minto finishing fourth, most people here, said he could upset for second and most likely finish third, that must be a huge blow for the Mana party given Auckland’s maori population.

      I very much wanted to vote for Minto but as it was an FPP election and not a proportional one I voted for Brown so as not to split the vote. I suspect quite a few people thought and acted the same way.

      We really, really, need proportional voting.

      • Brett Dale 13.1.1

        Auckland had fpp??

        I thought no one used that anymore?

      • tinfoilhat 13.1.2

        You voted for Brown so you are happy with the status quo despite what you say on this forum.

        • Paul 13.1.2.1

          People can vote negatively……..to prevent a even worse outcome.
          DTB is allowed to be not be happy with status quo despite voting for a candidate.
          Given the Tweedledee Tweedledum politics we presently have, it’s often the caseeople have to do this.
          In the US, many voted for Obama simply because Romney was worse.

      • toad 13.1.3

        Ditto me.

      • Tamati 13.1.4

        STV isn’t really proportional voting, there can only be one winner. We could have PR at the council level, however, as the party system is so weak at the local level it would be pretty farcical.

        • Draco T Bastard 13.1.4.1

          STV isn’t really proportional voting, there can only be one winner.

          It gets the person with the highest preference rather than the person with the greatest plurality which can actually be a minority.

          • Tamati 13.1.4.1.1

            Yes, but it isn’t “proportional” in the strictest sense. Just ask the Australian Green party. Still an improvement on FPP.

          • Matthew Whitehead 13.1.4.1.2

            Voting can only be proportional in multi-winner contests. You can’t have a proportionally elected mayor if they’re directly voted on, but you can have a proportionally elected council. 🙂

            What you’re talking about is a system that meets the mutual majority criteria, ie. where a subset of candidates exists that 50% of all voters prefer above the remaining candidates, the winner shall be elected from that subset. STV meets this criteria.

      • karol 13.1.5

        I’m with DTB. At first I was thinking to vote Minto when Brown looked like he faced no opposition. By the time I got round to voting, some journos were talking up Palino, so I voted Brown for mayor.

        Partly, Brown’s direction is influened by the power of the government (and the AKL council un elected CCOs), and partly by the make up of the council members.

        I voted Clow (Labour) for Whau councillor, and Labour + Mana for the Whau Board.

      • ghostwhowalksnz 13.1.6

        Minto got around 10,000 votes , about the same for penny Bright. Which is pretty good for fringe candidates

      • Penny Bright 13.1.7

        Actually, the provisional vote has myself 4th with 10,685 votes and John Minto
        (Mana Movement) 5th with 10,279 votes.

        I am THRILLED with that result, as it shows, in my opinion, that thousands of Aucklanders are waking up to the corrupt, corporate control of the Auckland region, by the unelected private lobby group – the Committee for Auckland.

        Candidate Affiliation Candidate No Votes Received Rank
        BERRY, Stephen Affordable Auckland 101 12577
        BRIGHT, Penny Independent 102 10635
        BROWN, Len Independent 103 148944 1
        BUTLER, Jesse 104 1348
        CHEEL, Tricia 105 1083
        DUFFY, Paul 106 2838
        GOODE, Matthew 107 1908
        HUSSEY, Emmett Independent 108 2668
        KRUGER, Susanna Susara Independent 109 2025
        MINTO, John Mana Movement 110 10279
        O’CONNOR, Phil Christians Against Abortion 111 2773
        PALINO, John Independent 112 98930
        SHADBOLT, Reuben Independent 113 2905
        UNASA, Uesifili Independent 114 7251
        VERMUNT, Annalucia Communist League 115 788
        WILLMOTT, David Roads First 116 1547
        YOUNG, Wayne Working for the Homeless 117 3605
        INFORMAL 118 1454
        BLANK 119

        _______________________________________________________________________

        ‘Anti-corruption/ anti-privatisation’ campaigner
        2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate

        http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz

    • Sanctuary 13.2

      Minto’s gaining less votes than Penny Bright ought to act as a cold, wet bucket of aquatic reality to the more strident Mana supporters.

      • marty mars 13.2.1

        These outcomes are expected in this society we have created, even though many (or a few) would like it different. Onward and upward Mana and its supporters soldier on to create a better country for us all.

      • Murray Olsen 13.2.2

        I don’t see why. Voting for, and getting behind Mana requires more commitment to change and activism because, as the word movement suggests, it necessitates being active and building something new. Voting for Penny Bright requires believing that councillors can be honest, follow their own rules, and not privatise anything. It’s capitalism with good manners mixed with a bit of delsuion about the past, whereas Mana is a substantial change.

    • QoT 13.3

      most people here, said he could upset for second and most likely finish third

      Prove it or shut the fuck up.

      • Brett Dale 13.3.1

        QOT:

        People here were saying it, that he could finish second, but he would get third place, he
        ended up get fifth, so shut the fuck up yourself.

        Im certainly not going thru posts from six months back.

        • Paul 13.3.1.1

          Then, if you are can’t be bothered to do this, don’t make unproven assertions.
          Oh yeah, you’re a right wing troll, so that’s why you’re on this site.

          • Brett Dale 13.3.1.1.1

            Paul:

            Oh please, I was being ripped into for saying he wont finish in the top three.

            Selective Memories?

            • QoT 13.3.1.1.1.1

              Brett, “selective memory” is when people choose which things-that-happened to remember.

              What you’ve got is “making shit up and refusing to back your statements”.

        • Lanthanide 13.3.1.2

          Remember that time when Brett Dale said he would vote Green at the next election? It was about 6 months ago in a comment on open mic. I can’t be bothered going through posts to find it, so just take my word on it.

  14. Auckland Mayor.

    BROWN, Len 148944
    PALINO, John 98930
    BERRY, Stephen 12577
    BRIGHT, Penny 10635
    MINTO, John 10279

    • lprent 14.1

      Penny will be happy. She wasn’t last.
      Definitely a two horse race with one of them hobbling…

    • tinfoilhat 14.2

      Gosh what does that work out to as a % of eligible voters, looks to be a pretty woeful turnout.

      • Paul 14.2.1

        If it feels like you have so little choice no wonder many don’t vote.
        If Cunliffe’s Labour and the Greens offer a real alternative, just watch people get off their couches….

  15. Chris 15

    http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/19362158/stv-means-delay-in-results/

    “Seven local bodies are using the complex Single Transferable Vote System (STV), which means their results are taking much longer.
    They are Dunedin, Greater Wellington, Kapiti Coast, Marlborough, Palmerston North, Porirua and Wellington.”

    A long wait for some of us 🙁

    • Mac1 15.1

      Marlborough’s results are in. Mayor Sowman returned for fourth term. Three new councillors, though one result of these in doubt with 2 % specials to be counted. All in all, a conservative council.

    • toad 15.2

      A delay in results is a minor downside of having a much more democratic system in STV. I’d support democracy over timeliness every time. Unfortunately, as a reluctant resident of the SuperCity (I live in the legacy Franklin District Council area) we had FPP forced upon us by Rodney Hide.

    • Draco T Bastard 15.3

      Seven local bodies are using the complex Single Transferable Vote System (STV)

      I really hate misreporting like this. STV is not complex.

  16. Te Reo Putake 16

    Laws loses in Wangaz, mayor Annette Main reelected by 3000 votes.

  17. greywarbler 17

    sanctuary
    Yes let’s have some life and vitality in our politics. It’s too much a SEP approach now. Politics is boring, it’s not a top priority, it’s for other people who undersand it, some queer people think about it like a hobby or something. That’s the wird place we have come to after all that effort and earnestness to get us a vote so we were respected citizens, sort of.

  18. weka 18

    Um, where are people getting the results?

  19. toad 19

    They are fair spewing over at Kiwiblog re some of the results; not to mention some thinly veiled racism:

    Viking2 (10,020) Says:
    October 12th, 2013 at 4:41 pm
    Longknives (3,089) Says:
    October 12th, 2013 at 4:33 pm

    I don’t understand it either Michaels- Len Brown, famous round Auckland for pulling ‘Gangsta’ hand signals whilst wearing a ‘Len Brown is my Homeboy’ T-Shirt. I mean- Which demographic would be dumb enough to fall for that patronising and blatantly insulting rubbish??

    Just as bad in Rotorua. Stupid Chadwick in charge.

    • lprent 19.1

      They are fair spewing over at Kiwiblog re some of the results

      I hate will love to think what it will be like next year because after looking at what has been happening for the last month or so, they will really hate it.

  20. millsy 20

    Oh dear.

    Harry got the boot and we have a right wing slash and burn austerity style, ACT council in New Plymouth.

    Libary services are going to be slashed, water meters dropped in, services out sourced, halls closed, parks demolished, and art works sold, Detroit-style.

    Anyone remotely left wing on council has been tossed out. Plain and simple.

  21. millsy 21

    So, with regards to Auckland, I take it the right has gained control of Auckland Council?

    (Good to see Hitler miss out in Whanganui).

    • karol 21.1

      So, with regards to Auckland, I take it the right has gained control of Auckland Council?

      How do you work that out?

      weka, Auckland Council results are here – click on the relevant PDFs.

      I can’t work out whether it’s left or right dominated because many of the tickets mean nothing to me.

      The shake up in the Whau Board (my ward) is pretty significant.
      Labour 5 members out of 7.
      Ross Clow knocked Derek Battersby off top spot – he’s down to 3 and in a minority. Battersby has been an elected rep in the area since forever, and has pretty strong name recognition.

      It was definitely a good move to stand a Labour Team here, because last time, the right/conservatives won by default. And clearly, in Cunliffe’s turf, there’s an appetitie for Labour reps.

      • Tamati 21.1.1

        I think they were referring to the “governing body” a.k.a The council, not the local boards.

        Hard to tell at this point, but it looks as if the Shore has gone slightly to the left, which is surprising given that it is usually very strongly National in general elections.

        • karol 21.1.1.1

          Ye, I realised that, Tamati. But, I can’t tell which way the council members have gone on balance.

        • Wayne 21.1.1.2

          Tamati,

          The Shore has pretty much stayed where it was. Chris Darby should be a good councillor, and effectively he replaces Anne Hartley. I see Chris as a fiscally conservative Green.

          The Local Board, (Devonport-Takapuna) not much change, pleased to see Alison Roe elected. I voted for Mike Cohen – at the local board level political orientation is not the key thing for me. Grant Gillon was a surprise, since he is not really local, but he is a hard worker, and for Council, he does think strategically- unlike some!

          But as for the main event, the Auckland Council. On my call, it has become a moderate centre-right council. In truth the current settings of council plans will generally prevail.

          However, there could be some impact on rates settings with the uniform general charge going up to around $500 to $600 in the next rates round. Probably some modest pruning of projected debt levels. Getting to 275% of rates is a bit of an issue. The current rates increases of 2.9% will be the anticipated norm.

          It will be a Council that the Mayor will easily be able to work with.

          • Anne 21.1.1.2.1

            I see Chris as a fiscally conservative Green.

            Umm… think you might be a little bit out there Wayne. He does a good job keeping it out of the limelight (being the Shore and all that), but my understanding is he’s a Labour man. However you appear to appreciate he’s good value. Btw, it’s Ann Hartley not Anne.

            Otherwise I agree with you. That’s a turn-up for the books. 🙂

            • Wayne 21.1.1.2.1.1

              Chris might be Labour in formal sense, but locally he projects as a Green (though not in the political party sense). He always talks about prudent spending and keeping costs down.

            • toad 21.1.1.2.1.2

              Um, I thought Chris Darby was closer to the Greens than Labour. Pretty sure he used to be a Green Party member, although I’m not sure if he still is. May have moved to Labour, although in recent years most of the movement has been the other way.

              Anyway, (unusually) I agree with Wayne. I think it will be a stable Council and one that will largely stick to current policy settings. Most of the moderate centrists will not buy into the extremist neoliberal stuff that the likes of Cameron Brewer and Dick Quax would like to happen, and will continue to support environmental & public transport initiatives promoted by the green/left on the Council.

    • toad 21.2

      Not as simple as that, millsy. Based on past voting records, election manifestos and past political alignments, I would say it is quite tightly balanced. My assessment is:

      Right: WEBSTER, WOOD, COOPER, RAFFILS, BREWER, KRUM, J WALKER, PENROSE, QUAX

      Centre: ANAE, FLETCHER, CASHMORE, STEWART

      Left: BROWN, W WALKER, WATSON, DARBY, HULSE, LEE, CASEY, FILIPAINA

      Anae and Fletcher are both former National MPs, but both have had fallings out with the Nats and have tended to vote independently. Stewart & Cashmore probably vote National, but are not hard-right party hacks. The fact that ACT policy aligned Niko Kloeten stood against Cashmore in Franklin in an FPP election ward would indicate Cashmore is no stooge of the hard right.

      The balance is probably slightly to the right, but the right don’t have a caucus like they did in the bad old C&R Auckland City days.

  22. Sookie 22

    Jeebers save us, that Photoshopped lunatic Hilary Calvert got on to the DCC Council. The deadlock between grumpy right wing nutters and idealistic Greenie types is going to cause Dave Cull no end of headaches, poor chap.

    From the Oddity:

    Mr Cull’s fellow Greater Dunedin candidates Richard Thomson, Jinty MacTavish and Kate Wilson and Chris Staynes retained their seats on the Dunedin City Council.

    Joining them on the council are Mr Benson-Pope (Independent), Mike Lord (Greater Dunedin), Hilary Calvert (Independent), Lee Vandervis (Independent), Aaron Hawkins (Green), Neville Peat (Independent), Doug Hall (Independent), John Bezett (Independent), Andrew Whiley (Independent).

    Incumbents Teresa Stevenson and Paul Hudson failed to be re-elected.

  23. Pascal's bookie 23

    Journos on twitter calling Wellington for Celia.

  24. Jono 24

    Sheryl Mai is the new Mayor in Whangarei. Experiences councillor, centreish greenish and actually got some things done when she was last on Council. Our last mayor was a wedding celebrant known for getting his clients names wrong and talking about himself constantly during services, elected knowing nothing about the job and taken out by health trouble halfway through his term. Go Sheryl! The usual mix of grey suits, old farmers and small business people otherwise back as councillors, mores the pity.

    Wayne Brown out in the Far North after a major drubbing at The hands of Hone Carter. He may be a National man but he knows the district and they know him, and should be a great deal less divisive.

    As for Kaipara, well, they are poked whatever the score.

  25. Pascal's bookie 25

    Apparently all the Green candidates for WCC and WRC were elected.

  26. Outofbed 26

    Just come from the Green Party party Wellington
    5 stood 5 elected and Celia WB

    • bad12 26.1

      Yes an excellent result for the Green’s here in Wellington, congratulations to all those who stood, and congratulations to the people of Wellington for an excellent poll,

      i don’t think 2014 will see the first electorate seat in the Parliament won by the Green but i am picking it to be likely in 2017 and believe that it will be a Wellington seat the Greens will win,

      Wellington radicalism begins and ends here in Wellington with the Green Party and it’s a radicalism that reaches across all demographics right up into the middle class,

      i am pleased, it’s a result i voted for, expected, and this confirms my views about Wellington politics at the present…

  27. Anne 27

    Congrats to Celia Wade-Brown and the Wellington Green councillors.

  28. BM 28

    Wow, I can’t believe Wade-brown got voted back in, she’s fucking useless.

    I’m wondering, due to the really low turn out people are voting along red/blue lines, instead of the strength of the candidates.

    Normally that sort of voting would be canceled out by the volume of people who don’t vote along party lines, but because the turnout is so pathetic party voters are having a much larger influence on the out come than what would normally be expected.

    • Pascal's bookie 28.1

      The right put up a sexist, plagiarising, fuckwit for a candidate on the basis that he played cricket a million years ago.

      Also noteworthy that the Greens took more council spots, indicating that it isn’t CWB that voters blame for the deadlocks in council.

      No good crying about it, or trying to think of reasons for why what happened doesn’t mean what it quite clearly means. But if you must, you’ll find company over on the kb thread.

      • RedBaronCV 28.1.1

        Trying to work out the council composition. Lambton has labour, green, right, southern, labour, green, eastern green ?? what about the rest ?

      • BM 28.1.2

        That’s where you’re wrong, the right put up no candidates, that’s the problem.

        It’s stupid beyond belief, that National put no emphasize into local body politics.

        I don’t know if the thinking is that, all the quality left wing people will be tied up in local body politics thus making the road easier for more right wing candidates on a national level.

        Personally I disagree, the right needs to be more organized at a local level, really it’s the like rugby, without strength at grass roots, you’re never going to get a strong national team.

        • QoT 28.1.2.1

          Yes, how silly of anyone to think that Nicola Young might be a “right” candidate, as the daughter of a National Party MP, sister of a National Party MP, great-granddaughter of a Reform Party MP, and 2005 National Party list candidate.

        • Descendant Of Sssmith 28.1.2.2

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communities_and_Residents

          Seems odd that in your world the citrats have never existed. Always been right aligned with strong links to the National Party. Been around for years and years and years.

        • mickysavage 28.1.2.3

          Well … [switching into gloat mode] …

          Out west the right wing which included Paula Bennett’s campaign manager got their arse handed to them on a plate. They finished well down.

          Their council candidate succeeded but she has been around for ages and she kept saying that she was an independent and had nothing to do with the National Party, even though she is still number 73 on National’s list.

          But I do agree that Local Government should be the breeding ground for future central government MPs. So out west you should be really afraid …

    • bad12 28.2

      BM, i don’t think you know s**t about anything, certainly not about local Wellington politics that’s for sure,

      i commented a couple of month’s ago that Wellington has gone Green and the underlying political impetus of anything happening at a ‘street level’ in this town usually has a strong Green influence,

      Low turn-outs usually favor the right-wing candidates, that of course may not hold true in a transferable voting contest, but, reports are that Wellington had a higher turnout than last year so your ‘low vote’ may actually be more of ‘you thunk it therefor as usual it’s s**t’,

      Lolz, you don’t think much of Celia Wade-Brown, as a wing-nut i would hardly have you think otherwise, stick around tho won’t you, when the Green Party have control of the Wellington City Council i am sure they will really give one of your ilk lots to wail and whine about…

      • BM 28.2.1

        All I can say is thank fuck I don’t live in Wellington.
        After seeing the assortment of lefty dross that’s been voted in, makes me glad I live in Hamilton at least the Mayor is vaguely competent.

        • bad12 28.2.1.1

          Lolz, really, Lolz, sorry for the insult to Hamiltonian’s, but why i havn’t picked a dead head like you for being a natural fit in the ‘Tron’ befor is beyond me…

        • miravox 28.2.1.2

          otoh I know a few people pretty happy to have left Hamilton and to call Wellington home, go figure.

        • tc 28.2.1.3

          Hardaker will keep screwing hamilton over, v8’s, water meters, presiding over a toxic council in a town that is flush with dairy money so nobody is really paying attention.

  29. vto 29

    vto party got no votes

  30. Pascal's bookie 30

    A Welly local has created this gif, he has already apologised but the damage has been done:

    http://i.imgur.com/n7Z9st0.gif

  31. Tracey 31

    Can a mayor look bad because they are often out voted by a majority holding a diff ideology to them?

  32. Sanctuary 32

    I am going out now, but take this thought to bed – Celia Wade-Brown retained the Wellington mayoralty, thus vastly annoying the Dom-Post editorial team and that dork David Farrar (who clearly can’t stand her). A piece of schadenfreude to make any good socialist smile as they sup their victory chardonnay. Or, as I would less charitably put it, “I can’t see you smiling as you suck on that, Farrar.”

    • miravox 32.1

      So Wellington has a no bypass council, with Greens elected in the Central City and on the regional council?… I surely hope so… It might even make a dithering, bike-riding Mayor take a stand.

  33. Armchair Critic 33

    Robert Guyton reelected to Environment Southland. Well done Robert.

  34. Varity 34

    fingers crossed this is Shadbolts last term down here.

    • Curtis 34.1

      We really need someone with a bit of charisma to run against him. I really think we need to set up a left wing ticket to fight the Old Boys Club and to give working people the knowledge of who they are actually voting for rather than all these ‘independents’

    • Craig 34.2

      Seven terms!!!

  35. tc 35

    Akl is interesting, brown has his work cut out with the likes of brewer, fletcher etc

    sham about northey but money and promotion pays dividends and krum got herself about….lesson in that if beaumont cares to pay attention in the GE.

  36. karol 36

    Ross Clow wins Whau seat on the Auckland Council!!! Preliminary results. Dancing for joy! Great day for the left in the Whau area! One more leftie on the council!

    Does that mean Labour ward member Farmer leads/chairs the Whau Board?

    • Frank 36.1

      It would be nice if someone, anyone actually did something here in the Whau, I have lived here for ten years and it has gone backwards. We must have the worse footpaths in the city and they are digging them up again.

  37. Draco T Bastard 37

    Auckland Council Elections 2013 – Voters lost…again.

    A Majority of Votes Elected No One (Again)

    52.52% of all votes returned across Auckland did not elect anyone at all.

    First Past the Post at work again. It splits the vote up among all the candidates and the people with the highest totals are elected, no matter how low their proportion of the total vote may be. In 2010 the percentage of votes returned electing no one was 62.5%.

    Not much to add, FPP proven to be failing the people – again.

  38. Craig 38

    Could I suggest a follow-up guest piece on the Single Transferable Vote option and what can be done to encourage its use in local body elections- and the amendment of the Auckland supercity enabling legislation for that purpose, come to that?