As it happened: Local body elections – 2022 results

Tory Whanau has won the Wellington mayoralty, with Phil Mauger winning in Christchurch, Jules Radich prevailing in Dunedin and Wayne Brown claiming victory in Auckland.

Whanau said it was “pretty wild” to be voted in as the new mayor of Wellington and she thought she was in a dream when she got the call that she had won.

Paula Southgate is set to be re-elected as Hamilton’s mayor.

One-term councillor Jules Radich has won the Dunedin mayoralty off incumbent Aaron Hawkins. Radich garnered almost twice the number of first preference votes than any of his rivals.

The Christchurch council said Mauger had a narrow 4000-vote majority over David Meates with 50,086 votes.

Wayne Brown with his wife Toni after claiming victory in the Auckland mayoralty race.
Photo: RNZ / Lucy Xia

Brown is leading the Auckland mayoralty race with 144,619 votes, ahead of Efeso Collins by 54,808 votes. This progress result reflects about 85 to 90 per cent of votes counted after voting closed at midday today.

Progress results show Tim Shadbolt losing heavily in Invercargill, with former deputy mayor Nobby Clark winning the top job in Invercargill, with broadcaster Marcus Lush conceding in a tweet.

Results also show Rangitikei Mayor Andy Watson has won his fourth term in office, while Neil Brown has been re-elected Mayor of Ashburton by a large majority. Nigel Bowen looks to be re-elected as Timaru mayor and Kirsten Wise will return as Napier mayor for a second term.

Tania Tapsell has been elected as Rotorua’s new mayor. She takes over from Steve Chadwick, who was mayor for three terms. Vince Cocurullo is on track to win the Whangāreri mayoralty and Grant Smith has been releected as Palmerston North mayor.

Andrew Tripe will be the new mayor of Whanganui, beating incumbent Hamish McDouall by about 2000 votes, and Upper Hutt mayor Wayne Guppy has been re-elected for another term.

See how the day’s events unfoledd with RNZ’s live updates below: