Progress results in the Invercargill City Council by-election have put candidate Steve Broad in the lead, although it is currently too close to call officially.

Polls closed at midday today, and progress results were delivered to Invercargill City Council just after midday.

Progress results show Steve Broad has so far received 2293 votes, followed by Graham Lewis with 1393 votes, David Meades on 1367, Lisa Tou-McNaughton on 1295 and Asha Dutt on 1292.

Progress results include all votes cast up to Thursday afternoon, however, it does not include votes cast late on Thursday or on Friday and does not include special votes. There are 248 special votes and 1673 ordinary votes yet to be counted.

Invercargill City Council Deputy Electoral Officer Michael Morris said although 15 percent of votes were still to be counted, it was likely Steve Broad would be elected to Council.

“With such a robust lead it is likely that Steve will be the successful candidate, however, with 1921 votes still to be counted, we will need to wait for the final results on Tuesday to confirm," Morris said.

“We have been told we will likely receive preliminary results on Monday, which will be the votes we have counted and adds the remaining ordinary votes."

“Final results, which will include the 248 special votes, will likely be made available on Tuesday,” he said.

The elected Councillor will replace former Councillor Nigel Skelt, who resigned in May.

The Councillor-elect will be sworn in by Mayor Nobby Clark at a ceremony on Tuesday, August 8 ahead of a Council Community Wellbeing committee meeting. The new Councillor will also undergo an induction programme to get them up to speed.

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