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Council Hopefuls Organise Their Own Election Event
Election candidates seeking votes from Whakatāne and Ōhope voters are so dismayed at the lack of Meet the Candidate events, they have pooled resources to organise an event themselves.
Every Whakatāne District Council candidate that Whakatāne and Ōhope voters can give a tick to, other than the mayoral candidates, is planning to be there.
Meet the Candidates events in the Whakatāne district so far have been held for mayoral, Bay of Plenty Regional Council or Rangitaiki candidates.
Whakatāne-Ōhope general ward, Whakatāne-Ōhope Community Board and Kāpu te Rangi Māori wards have had few chances to put their points of view across to voters.
Two events for Whakatāne-Ōhope ward candidates this week, one by Grey Power on Wednesday and another by It’s in the Ballot, on Thursday, are being held during most people’s normal work hours, thereby limiting the audience potential.
A group calling itself the Candidates Collective, made up of candidates vying for seats in Whakatāne and Ōhope, has organised an event at the Whakatāne Little Theatre on Thursday, September 25.
Speaking on behalf of the collective, Whakatāne-Ōhope general ward candidate Dave Stewart said the collective was very aware that there were too few opportunities for voters to hear from candidates outside of normal work hours.
“While the candidates all have different messages and platforms, they all want as many people engaged and voting as possible.”
Mr Stewart said all candidates standing for Whakatāne-Ōhope General Ward, Kāpu-te-Rangi Māori ward and Whakatāne-Ōhope Community Board were supporting it.
The event will begin at 5.30pm with a mix and mingle, followed by the formal meeting at 6.30pm.
-LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
Local Democracy Reporting
Content from the Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) service is published by Scoop as a registered New Zealand Media Outlet LDR Partner.
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