Four Runners Confirmed For Ashburton Mayoral Race

Tuesday, 29 July 2025, 3:32 pm
Article: Jonathan Leask - Local Democracy Reporter

It’s officially a four-way race for the Ashburton mayoralty with councillor Rob Mackle’s nomination.

Mayor Neil Brown announced in March that his second term would be his last on the council.

[As of Tuesday lunchtime] First-term councillor Mackle joins deputy mayor Liz McMillan, three-term councillor Russell Ellis and newcomer Jeff Ryan in the mayoral contest.

Nominations close at noon on Friday, August 1.

Mackle, the older brother of Kaikōura mayor Craig Mackle, is only standing for the mayoralty and not seeking re-election in the Western Ward.

He won his seat at council in a by-election in the Western Ward in May 2023 following the sudden death of Rodger Letham in December 2022.

The other three candidates are standing in wards - McMillan in the West, Ellis and Ryan in Ashburton.

McMillan is in her third term on the council, serving as Browns’ deputy in both his terms as mayor.

Ellis is in his third term, having been re-elected to the council in 2022.

He infamously missed out on standing in the 2019 election after a technicality in his nomination form.

He had lodged his nomination more than 24 hours before the closing time, but due to the redrawn electoral boundaries that year, one of his nominators was no longer in the correct ward.

That made his nomination invalid when it was checked once nominations had closed, and the error could not be retrospectively corrected.

Ryan is a newcomer to council politics and has big project ideas, including a new bypass around Ashburton and a punting canal to Lake Hood.

The last election had a two-horse race for the mayoralty, where Brown faced off with Jeff Swindley.

Brown was re-elected for his second term by almost 9000 votes.

SELWYN: WHO PLANS TO RUN?

Over in Selwyn, Lydia Gliddon is the lone nominee for the mayoralty but Sam Broughton has said he will be seeking a fourth-term but is yet to file his paperwork.

With Gliddon running only for the mayoralty it means there will be at least seven new councillors.

That's because Councillor Phil Dean has resigned in May while Deputy Mayor Malcolm Lyall (Springs ward, Debra Hasson (Springs), Grant Miller (Springs), Shane Epiha (Ellesmere), and Bob Mugford (Malvern) are not seeking re-election.

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