Election time has rolled around again and thought you may appreciate some background information (from a Northland Regional Council perspective!) ahead of election day, Saturday, 11 October.

It’s difficult to predict exact times (there’s usually a window of several hours involved) but typically election results will start being posted on the regional council’s website from mid-afternoon on election day at www.nrc.govt.nz/results2025 (General election information is already available at www.nrc.govt.nz/elections2025 )

First up will be progress results, which we expect to arrive roughly from mid-afternoon (it’s important to remember that council staff have no control over this!)

Progress results generally reflect about 90% of the votes cast, but don’t include votes hand-delivered at various district council offices in the region on election day morning and special votes that require validation.

Next will be preliminary results, these will be available Monday 13 October. Preliminary results include all ordinary votes cast throughout the region and any valid special votes validated at this point.

Finally, the official result is expected to be declared on Friday 17 October. These will be issued via public notice and uploaded (once all special votes have been validated by the Electoral Commission).

Māori ward poll.

The election will also include a poll on whether to keep or remove council’s Te Raki Māori constituency, which has been in place since 2022. Results will be posted with the progress, preliminary and official results. The outcome of the poll will apply for both the 2028 and 2031 elections.

Background info

Which voting system is used?

Northland Regional Council elections are run on the ‘First Past the Post’ (FPP) system via a postal ballot. Votes must be received by noon on Saturday, 11 October. Although most votes will have been sent in via post, any votes (including special votes) cast at voting locations on Saturday will have to be transported to Auckland for counting and inclusion in the preliminary results.

How many councillors will be elected?

One regional council seat - the Mid North General Constituency - has already been filled with incumbent Geoff Crawford re-elected unopposed. This leaves 22 people contesting the remaining eight seats on council; six general seats and two Māori seats.

Who’s standing for the regional council?

The full list of this year’s candidates in alphabetical order (surname) by constituency is:

Bay of Islands-Whangaroa General Constituency (one vacancy):

Lane Ayr; Karl Barkley (Independent); Murray Hosking (Independent); Colin Toss Kitchen; Nyze Manuel; Jane Wright.

Coastal Central General Constituency (one vacancy):

Greg Chalmers (Independent); Amy Macdonald (Independent).

Coastal South General Constituency (one vacancy):

Robert Goodhue; John Hunt (Independent); Rick Stolwerk.

Far North General Constituency (one vacancy):

Joe Carr (Independent); Reina Tuai Penney; Marty Yuretich (Independent).

Kaipara General Constituency (one vacancy):

John Blackwell; Lorraine (Nossi) Norris (Independent).

Mid North General Constituency (one vacancy):

Geoff Crawford (Independent)- -(elected unopposed).

Te Raki Māori Constituency (two vacancies):

Peter-Lucas Jones; Arama Morunga (Te Pāti Māori); Tui Shortland; Pita Tipene.

Whangarei Central General Constituency (one vacancy):

Jack Craw (independent); Caroline Davis.

What happens after the elections?

It’s expected a joint powhiri for all four new Northland councils will be held at Waitangi on Thursday 23 October. At this stage, Northland Regional Council’s inaugural meeting will likely be held from 10am on Thursday 30 October. (We’ll confirm this closer to the time and the public is welcome to attend).

Who will lead the council’s governance arm?

One of the first orders of business for the new council will be the swearing in of councillors, then selection of council’s new chair and their deputy.

Unlike district councils, whose mayors are chosen by the public through local elections, the regional council’s equivalent - its chair - will be voted in by the councillors themselves.

What committees will there be?

Another of the first tasks the new council will need to consider in the weeks after its members are sworn in is its governance structure; what committees etc the council will have to oversee particular areas of work over the next three years and who will chair them?

There are currently three committees that the regional council is legally required to have or be part of;

• The Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group (a joint committee of all four councils in Northland)
• The Regional Transport Committee (made up of selected regional council members along with representatives of all three district councils and the New Zealand Transport Agency)
• Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe/Ninety Mile Beach Board (the regional council currently has two representatives on this board).

Realistically, councillors are not expected to establish the post-election governance structure until November/December.

What will they be paid?

The new council will also need to allocate a remuneration pool, which has already been independently set by the Remuneration Authority. The only councillor whose exact post-election salary has already been determined by the authority, will be the chair and that figure will be $144,225. That will leave $637,493 to be divided amongst the remaining eight councillors post-election.

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