Media advisory
17 October 2013

Auckland Council election final results

Final results for the Auckland Council elections confirm incumbent Mayor Len Brown has been re-elected for a second term with 55,410 votes ahead of his nearest rival John Palino.

On the basis of the final results, in the Whau ward, Ross Clow has beaten incumbent councillor Noelene Raffills by 51 votes.

This means that Mr Clow can no longer take up the position he won on the Whau Local Board. That position will pass to the next highest polling and unsuccessful candidate, Ami Chand.

The results also confirm the preliminary results that incumbent councillors Richard Northey (Maungakiekie-Tamaki) and Ann Hartley (North Shore) lost their seats. The new councillors-elect are Denise Krum for Maungakiekie-Tamaki and Chris Darby on the North Shore.

On the Great Barrier Island Local Board, the preliminary results had a tie for the fifth spot between Christina Spence and Nikki Watts on 208 votes each.

The final result is still tied with 220 votes each. The ballot will now be decided by lot under supervision of the New Zealand Police.

In other close results, in the Waitakere Licensing Trust Ward 1 (Te Atatu), Tracy Kirkley lost by 22 votes to John Tamihere and in the Waitakere Licensing Trust Ward 3 (Waitakere), Judy Lawley lost by two votes to Steve Tollestrup.

There were 1600 special votes, some of them needing to be verified with the Electoral Commission to ensure the voter is enrolled on the electoral roll. This check covered people who have recently moved address, re-enrolled or just turned 18. If they were not enrolled, their vote was not valid. If their vote was valid then it was among the special votes counted.

The results will be published on www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz and publicly notified on 21 October.

An unsuccessful candidate can request a judicial recount. This must be made within three days of the public declaration on 21 October and the application must be made to a District Court judge. The judge must be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for the recount, which must be undertaken as soon as practicable after the judge receives the application.

The final results for the Mayor are:

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell:
On What John Banks And Nick Smith Have In Common

The defence that John Banks has been offering to the charges of electoral fraud – that he didn’t read the document he signed, and therefore lacked the necessary criminal intent – is a fairly standard example of political business as usual.

At a time when political power is being centralised downtown in the Executive, responsibility is being re-located to the suburbs. The Beehive seeks to operate as a blame free, shame free environment. At all times, plausible deniability is to be maintained.

Being able to put distance between the Minister and the actions/outcomes/political fallout of policy is not simply the last desperate resort of scoundrels, but the first resort of the foot soldiers in ministerial service... More>>