NEWS RELEASE
12 October 2013

Celia Wade-Brown wins Wellington Mayoralty

Celia Wade-Brown is set to carry on as Wellington Mayor for the next three years.

She beat the next highest-polling candidate, John Morrison, by a total of 2284 votes, based on preliminary results.

A total of 1570 special votes were issued, and of those returned to the Electoral Officer by the deadline of 12 noon today, 650 are left to be qualified and counted. Wellington City Electoral Officer Charlie Inggs says special votes take more time to count as the Registrar of Electors has to confirm the elector’s enrolment, which will take until Wednesday 16 October.

Ms Wade-Brown will be sworn in as Mayor by the end of October for her second triennium.

City Councillors elected under the preliminary results were: Justin Lester, Malcolm Sparrow and Helene Ritchie (Northern Ward), Andy Foster, Jo Coughlan and Simon Woolf (Onslow-Western Ward), Iona Pannett, Nicola Young and Mark Peck (Lambton Ward), Simon Swampy Marsh, Ray Ahipene-Mercer and Sarah Free (Eastern Ward), Paul Eagle and David Lee (Southern Ward).

Incumbent Councillors Leonie Gill (Eastern Ward) and Bryan Pepperell (Southern Ward) were not returned under the preliminary results.

The preliminary list of results by Ward, and for the Tawa Community Board, is attached as a Word document.

Voter turnout was 40.85 percent, excluding special votes, a slight increase on the 2010 election turnout as of election day of 39.54 percent.

The declaration of the final election result is expected to be published in local newspapers this Thursday. The Mayor and Councillors take office the day after the official declaration (Friday), however they cannot act until they are sworn in. Non-returning existing Councillors will leave office on Friday.

Ward By Ward Results

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