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NPDC Voter Turnout Bucks National Trend As Final Results Released
A flurry of last-minute votes has pushed returns in New Plymouth District’s local elections to just over 46 per cent, up on the 45.1 per cent in 2022 around 10 per cent ahead of the national average.
Meanwhile the final results released today cements the Mayor, Councillors and Community Board members who will shape our district over the next three years and confirms that this will be the last term for our Māori ward, at least for the next few elections.
There is no change to Mayor or councillor positions but there have been changes on the Waitara and Inglewood Community Boards
The final count in the Māori ward referendum is 15,004 to remove and 12,046 to keep
As well as increasing voter turnout, the number of voting papers this year was up from 27,163 last election to 28,625 this year. We were also ahead of similar sized councils with Palmerston North City Council with sitting at 41.2 per cent (before final results) and Hasting District Council with a final of 45.5 per cent.
“Those last few days of the election campaign were extremely busy, and we had long queues at the drive-through on Saturday for last minute voters,” says NPDC Customer & Communication Manager Ben Kohlis.
“We’re pleased to see voter turnout growing but it is clear there needs to be a conversation at national level about how to get more people engaged in local elections to improve voter turnout so we look forward seeing how that progresses.
NPDC will also be conducting a survey to obtain feedback on voter participation.
The final results for all candidates are available our Vote 2025 website.
The following people have been elected following to New Plymouth District Council
COUNCIL
| Position | Elected | |||
| Mayor | Max Brough | |||
| New Plymouth District – at large (5) | Murray Chong, David Bublitz, John Woodward, Sam Bennett and Dinnie Moeahu | |||
| Kaitāke-Ngāmotu General Ward (6) | Gordon Brown, Graham Chard, Moira Irving George, Damon Fox, Kerry Vosseler and EJ Barrett. | |||
| Kōhanga Moa General Ward (1) | Christine Fabish. | |||
| North General Ward (1) | Gina Blackburn | |||
| Te Purutanga Mauri Pūmanawa Māori Ward (1) | Te Waka McLeod | |||
| Community Board | Elected |
| Inglewood (4) | Donald McIntyre, Greg Robinson, Rebecca Anne Dearden and Michael Self. |
| Waitara. (4) | Trevor Dodunski, Tiri Moana Porter, Joe Rauner and Dale Michielsen. |
| Puketapu-Bell Block – only four nominations received so elected unopposed. | Mike Baker, Lance Mepham, Adrian Sole and Kim Sowman.
|
| Clifton (4) | Teresa Dorothy Hayston, Tyla Nickson and Murray Seamark |
| Kaitāke (4) | Mike Anderson, Teresa Goodin and Paul Lobb
|
By-elections are required for one extraordinary position on Clifton and Kaitake boards as there were not enough candidates for all four positions.
By the numbers:
- 28,625 votes received compared with 27,163 in 2022 and 26,018 in 2019.
- 8171 votes cast on the last day (11 October) this year
- 61,619 eligible voters in the New Plymouth District, up from 61278 in 2022
- We are still waiting on the final number of special votes cast.
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