The final results in the Taupō District Council elections have been released, with two changes from the progress results announced last Saturday.

The final result includes 671 special votes which were counted this week. Following the progress results on Saturday and preliminary results from Monday, three seats at the council table hung in the balance with fewer than 20 votes separating candidates. They were: one Taupō Ward seat, one Māori Ward seat and the Mangakino-Pouakani Ward seat.

Steve Manunui has pulled ahead of Barry Delany to take the last remaining Taupō Ward seat. On Saturday, Mr Delany was ahead by 18 votes but in the final count Mr Manunui garnered 4279 votes compared to Mr Delany’s 4272.

In the Mangakino-Pouakani Ward the seat has gone to Hope Woodward, who wound up seven votes ahead of fellow candidate Marlene Johnson.

The result in the Te Papamārearea Māori Ward has remained unchanged, with Wahine Murch and Ngāhuia Foreman elected to the two seats. The unsuccessful candidate, Danny Loughlin, was 15 votes behind.

All other results remain unchanged although the number of final votes per candidate has varied. The successful mayoral candidate is still John Funnell and the Māori ward poll result remains to remove the ward for the 2028 and 2031 elections.

The final voter turnout was 55.36 percent or 15,866 votes. The full list of results is available on Taupō District Council’s website at www.taupo.govt.nz/vote25.

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