Around half of all candidates running for office in the New Zealand local elections this year will be elected, a report released today by Policy.nz reveals.

Using data from the Policy.nz candidate comparison tool, the report analyses how contested elections are between regions and councils across New Zealand – providing the first nationwide picture of the health of local democracy ahead of this year’s elections.

Nationally, there is an average of 2.1 candidates running for each seat – which means nearly half of all candidates will be elected.

The most contested election nationally is the race for Mayor of Auckland, with 23 candidates running for one seat. But there are 53 elections with only one candidate running, and one in five elections nationally are uncontested, meaning that the same number of candidates are running as there are seats.

The most contested geographic regions are Nelson, Northland and Gisborne, while the most contested city or district is Hamilton City. By contrast, the least contested regions are Chatham Islands, Hawke's Bay, and Manawatū-Whanganui. Stratford is the single least contested city or district nationally.

Urban areas are significantly more contested on average than rural areas.

“These findings paint a mixed picture about the health of local democracy in New Zealand,” says Policy.nz editorial director Ollie Neas.

“On the one hand, thousands of people around the country have put their hand up to take the responsibility of elected office. But a significant number of elections are uncontested or are contested by a very small number of candidates.”

“There is essentially a 50/50 chance of any given candidate being elected at the local elections this year. That may worry many voters, especially given recent concerns about some candidates promoting misinformation and conspiracy theories.”

About Policy.nz

Policy.nz is the complete guide to the 2022 New Zealand local elections, helping citizens decide who to vote for.

By entering an address, users can find out what elections they can vote in, which candidates are running, and where those candidates stand on the key issues facing their community. Policy.nz covers every candidate running in the 583 elections across New Zealand, from mayoral elections down to local board and community board.

Policy.nz is published in partnership with The Spinoff and is a partner organisation in Local Government New Zealand’s VOTE2022 campaign. Policy.nz 2022 is made possible by support from Google News Initiative, with further backing from Greenlight Ventures and Addy. The Spinoff’s local elections coverage is supported by the Public Interest Journalism Fund.

The full report can be found at the following link: Policy.nz – health of local democracy report 2022.

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