Wellington City mayoral election, 2013

Wellington City mayoral election, 2013

12 October 2013[1]

Candidate Celia Wade-Brown John Morrison Jack Yan Party Independent Independent Independent Popular vote 27,171 24,691 9,996

Mayor before election Celia Wade-Brown Elected Mayor Celia Wade-Brown

The 2013 Wellington City mayoral election is part of the New Zealand local elections. On 12 October 2013, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington plus other local government roles. Wade-Brown was re-elected.

Wellington is one of eight local bodies in New Zealand that uses the Single transferable vote system to elect its Mayor and Councillors.^[2] The 2013 local government election will be the first time that the Greater Wellington Regional Council will use STV in it elections, and the first time a regional council has used STV for elections in New Zealand.^[3]

Candidates

When nominations closed there were six candidates for the Wellington mayoralty.

• Rob Goulden, an Eastern Ward councillor until 2010, has put himself forward for the mayoralty and for the Eastern Ward. He had previously stood for the mayoralty in 2004. He said that he wanted to "tackle council debt". A news item commented that he "will enliven Wellington mayoral race" as "he was voted out in 2010, after years of turbulent relationships with his fellow councillors".^[4]

• John Morrison - City councillor for the Onslow-Western ward since 1998. The main centre-right candidate to challenge Wade-Brown.^[5]
• Karunanidhi Muthu, barrister and entrepreneur, entered the Wellington mayoral race just before nominations closed. A former chairman of the New Zealand National Party Rongotai electorate, and a past Parliamentary candidate for the United Future Party in the 2008 general election.
• Celia Wade-Brown - The incumbent since 2010, she has served as a Southern Ward councillor. She stood for the Green Party for Parliament in 1996 (under the Alliance banner), 1999 and 2002.
• Jack Yan - Stood for the mayoralty in 2010; in 2008 stood for the Alliance Party as a list candidate.^[6]
• Nicola Young - In 2005 stood in the Rongotai electorate for the National Party.^[7]

Dr Keith Johnson, an economist from Island Bay who ran for the Southern Ward in 2010, initially proposed to stand.^[8] He subsequently withdrew, saying that There was not much resonance in the concerns I had for debt control and against the rebalancing of rates.^[9]

Results

Wade-Brown was re-elected.^[10] The following table shows preliminary results for first preference votes,^[11] and final results for the last iteration.^[12]

Candidate	Affiliation	First Preference			Last Iteration
		Votes	%	+/-	Votes	%
Celia Wade-Brown		26,854	38.4	+3.7	27,171	52.39
John Morrison		24,570	35.1		24,691	47.61
Jack Yan		9,915	14.2	+3.3
Nicola Young		5,069	7.3
Rob Goulden		2,590	3.7
Karunanidhi Muthu		919	1.3
Informal votes		71
Turnout		25,931

References

1. "2013 Local Elections FAQs". Wellington: Electoral Commission. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
2. "STV Information". Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
3. "Greater Wellington Regional Council to change to STV". Greater Wellington Regional Council. 27 July 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
4. Wannan, Olivia (17 August 2013). "Laws enters race .... The ballot list". Dominion Post. p. A5.
5. Chapman, Katie (23 May 2013). "Morrison throws hat in the ring for mayor". The Dominion Post. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
6. "Party Lists of Unsuccessful Registered Parties". Wellington: Chief Electoral Office. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
7. "Official Count Results -- Rongotai". Wellington: Chief Electoral Office. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
8. Chapman, Katie (1 May 2013). "Promoter rules himself out of mayoral race". The Dominion Post. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
9. "Johnson out". Dominion Post. 8 August 2013. p. A3.
10. "Brown, Dalziel first winners in local body vote". Fairfax New Zealand (via Stuff.co.nz). 12 October 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
11. Inggs, Charlie (12 October 2013). "2013 Triennial Election: preliminary results" (PDF). Wellington City Council. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
12. Inggs, Charlie (16 October 2013). "2013 Triennial Election: declaration of results" (PDF). Wellington City Council. Retrieved 10 March 2016.