Final results in the Hamilton City Council East Ward By-election show Mark Donovan has 1774 votes, 208 ahead of the next highest polling candidate.

The final results are:

• Mark Donovan - 1774
• Anna Casey-Cox - 1566
• Anna Smart - 1470
• Peter Humphreys - 929
• Ada Xiao - 903
• Horiana Henderson - 779
• Naomi Pocock - 634
• Emma Pike - 577
• Lisa Lewis - 569
• Wiremu Taylor Puke - 444
• Riki Manarangi - 361
• Pirihira Kaio - 291
• Ross Macleod - 280
• Donna Pokere-Phillips - 247
• Jack Gielen - 209
• Roshni Desai - 209
• Chris van der Aa - 193
• Colm McKeogh - 180
• Daniel Pascoe - 129
• Ritesh Chandra - 125
• Kat Waswo - 120
• Jennifer Myers - 57
• Michelle Houghton - 47
• Christopher Manson - 40
• Informal - 37
• Blank - 8

Results are also available at yourcityelections.co.nz/results

Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate said she and other Councillors would welcome their new colleague in person, once lockdown was over.

“I want to congratulate Mark and warmly welcome him on board. We have some huge and complex challenges ahead of us and the decisions we make will impact on Hamilton for generations. So I look forward to helping Mark get up to speed very quickly so he can understand what’s at stake and make a full contribution, quickly.”

A total of 12,178 votes were received, or 20.7% of the 58,835 voting packs delivered. This compares to the 23.26% of East Ward voting packs returned in the 2018 By-election.

Hamilton City Council was required to hold a By-election following the death of East Ward Councillor Margaret Forsyth in early May.

© Scoop Media