Two Christchurch city councillors ousted as council shifts away from the left

Two sitting Christchurch city councillors look to have been ousted as seven newcomers have been voted onto the council.

The election has heralded a major shift on the council away from the left, with The People’s Choice/Labour securing five seats, two fewer than last term.

Eight candidates endorsed by new mayor Phil Mauger have been elected on to the 16-seat council.

In a surprise result, two-term Papanui ward councillor Mike Davidson has lost his seat to newcomer Victoria Henstock, who won with a 2173 vote majority after receiving 4735 votes compared to Davidson’s 2562.

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Davidson was a big advocate for cycleways and led the council’s transport committee.

Three-term Innes ward councillor Pauline Cotter has lost to Ali Jones, but only by 46 votes – Jones receiving 2386 and Cotter 2340.

Results released on Saturday are only progress results and do not include votes cast on Saturday morning, so the result could change.

Cotter said she was going to wait until the final results to see what the people of Christchurch have said, but added: “I’m reading it like it’s not me and that’s the way I’ll stay until I’m told otherwise.”

Preliminary results are expected to be available on Sunday, and the official results will be published on Thursday.

The city was always going to get five new councillors after Jimmy Chen (Hornby), Anne Galloway (Halswell), Catherine Chu (Riccarton), and Andrew Turner (Banks Peninsula) decided not to stand again, and Phil Mauger vacating his Burwood seat in favour of the mayoralty.

Other newcomers include Kelly Barber in Burwood, who won with a 1295-vote majority over Labour’s Michelle Lomax.

Mark Peters won the Hornby ward with 2946 votes, compared with People’s Choice candidate Kim Moss, who received 2225 votes.

Independent candidate Andrei Moore won in Halswell with 5327 votes, against the 2032 votes given to Independent Citizens’ Paul Lonsdale.

In Riccarton, Tyla Harrison-Hunt, a People’s Choice candidate, gained 1245 votes, more than Sam Yau’s 653 votes.

The People’s Choice candidate Tyrone Fields took out the hotly-contested Banks Peninsula seat with 1130 votes, compared with independent Libby Ornsby’s 982 votes.