Wendy Schollum The New Hastings Mayor As Last-minute Voters Extend Her Lead

Monday, 13 October 2025, 8:21 pm
Press Release: Linda Hall - Local Democracy Reporter

October 12, 2025

Last-day votes have fallen the way of Wendy Schollum, who is the new mayor of Hastings, preliminary results show. Schollum was leading her nearest rival, Marcus Buddo, by 545 votes, based on 95% of the vote count. He was 324 votes behind after progress results on Saturday, but late votes extended Schollum’s lead further. Buddo, who is heading back to farming life, conceded defeat and wished Schollum well. He said he was disappointed but wished her and the new council “all the best and every success”. 

“I’ll have a bit of a rethink and see where that takes us going forward. “In the meantime, I’ll be working on the farm and at the end of the day, I like farming.” 

In the Hastings-Havelock North ward, where 17 candidates were vying for seven seats, preliminary results have seen Nick Ratcliffe jump to seventh place, winning him a seat, while Rizwaana Latiff fell to eighth and out of council. It remains tight, with just 27 votes between them, with special votes still to count. Gareth Freeman is another 75 votes further back in ninth. 

The voter return in Hastings was 44.71% of the electoral role. Depending on the counting progress, the final results are anticipated to be available by Thursday, October 16. Mayoral candidate and councillor since 2016, Damon Harvey, who was sitting fourth and not restanding as a councillor, said he was grateful to all those people who supported him. He said he had given his all to the community for more than 20 years. “I’m not going to stop here. Another door will open,” 

Harvey said. “It’s time to focus on our business interests and new governance opportunities as well as spend more time with the family, hit some mountain bike trails the surf. “I wish the new mayor and councillors all the very best.” Harvey said, moving forward, the council would need to “lift its accountability to the community”. 

“That was the glaring topic during the election campaign based on the rates hikes.“ He said a frequent question he faced was around why rates had risen so much, and there appeared to be a disconnect between the higher rates rises in recent years and the community’s understanding of the demands the council had been facing - from the cyclone recovery to replacing water infrastructure. “I think the council needs to do a better job of making people really aware of that.” 

He said he was proud of his time on council, particularly his transparency and accountability to the community. 

Results Mayoralty votes 

SCHOLLUM, Wendy 7007 

BUDDO, Marcus 6462 

GIBSON, Steve 5693 

HARVEY, Damon 5413 

WILSON, Darrin 1087 

Mōhaka general ward (one vacancy) 

NOWELL-USTICKE, Derek 699 

GOLDSTONE, Pagen 595 

SCOTT-MCLEAN, Kirsty 509 

Heretaunga general ward (two vacancies) 

As the number of nominations received did not exceed the number of vacancies, Alwyn Corban and Hana Montaperto-Hendry are elected unopposed. 

Hastings-Havelock North general ward (seven vacancies) 

GIBSON, Steve 7464 

FOWLER, Michael 6542 

LORKIN, Yvonne 6414 

WATKINS, Kevin 5890 

ROSS, Callum 5274 

NIXON, Simon J H 4531 

RATCLIFFE, Nick 4415 

LATIFF, Rizwaana (Riz) 4387 

FREEMAN, Gareth (Gus) 4312 

MCELWEE, Lucie-Jane 4033 

SUPRA, Jacqueline 3704 

WILSON, Darrin 3512 

HICKEY, Bernard 3167 

ROBEN, Rion 2,827 

BENNETT, John 2,760 

WARD, Debbie 2,313 

AHMED, Sayeed 2004 

Flaxmere general ward (one vacancy) 

O’KEEFE, Henare 669 

HEKE, Henry 530 

Kahurānaki general ward (one vacancy) 

Votes received 

As the number of nominations received did not exceed the number of vacancies, Elisha Milmine is elected unopposed. 

Takitimu Māori ward (three vacancies) 

TE AU-SKIPWORTH, Heather 2,486 

JESSUP, Kellie 1,812 

DANIEL, Siiam 1,143 

GREENING, Sarah 1,120 

O’CONNOR, Bevan 1061 

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