Local Election Results
I am driving in the South Island this afternoon so won’t be able to cover the local election results in detail but have embedded my Twitter feed below as I’ll try and cover interesting results in them there.
Most of the interest is in the three main cities.
In Auckland, the polls have Wayne Brown in the lead. However Efeso Collins has the entire Labour and Greens turnout machine behind him. Every City Vision candidate will have had a team trying to get supporters out to vote, and if they are successful that could propel Collins to a win.
Also of interest will be the results of ward elections in AEP, Howick, Manurewa-Papakura, North Shore and Waitemata which will determine the left keep a majority on Auckland Council.
In Wellington I expect Tory Whanau to gain the most first preference votes. The Greens get 30% party vote in Wellington Central and 24% in Rongotai. A lot of people don’t realise how young Wellington City is – 49% of adults are aged under 40. But winning first preferences is not the same as winning under STV. What will be crucial is where the preferences go from the candidate who comes third.
In terms of Council, there are a few retirements so the interest is who replaces them, as well as whether any incumbents get knocked out.
In Christchurch a Q+A poll had Phil Mauger way ahead of David Meates. Meates’ campaign team includes former Labour Mayor Garry Moore and Lianne Dalziel’s former campaign manager.
Other races of interest for me will be Rotorua and Queenstown with two young strong female candidates standing.
Let the counting start!