Source: Northland Regional Council
Election time has rolled around again and thought you may be interested/appreciate a bit of background information (from a Northland Regional Council perspective!) ahead of election day, Saturday, 08 October.
It’s difficult to predict exact times (there’s usually a window of several hours involved) but typically election results will start being posted on the regional council’s website from about mid-afternoon on election day at www.nrc.govt.nz/electionresults (General election information is already available at www.nrc.govt.nz/elections2022 )
First up will be progress results, which we expect to arrive roughly from about 3pm-5pm (NB…if you’re writing to a deadline, the latter end of that timeframe is more likely and it’s important to remember that council staff have no control over this!)
Progress results generally reflect about 95% of the votes cast, but don’t include votes hand-delivered at various district council offices in the region on election day morning and special votes that require validation.
Next will be preliminary results – these won’t be available until some time the next day (Sunday 09 October). Preliminary results include all ordinary votes cast throughout the region and any valid special votes identified at this point.
Finally, the official result is expected to be declared between Thursday 13 October and Wednesday 19 October.
Background info
Which voting system is used?
Northland Regional Council elections are run on the ‘First Past the Post’ (FPP) system via a postal ballot. Votes must be received by noon on Saturday, 08 October. Although most votes will have been sent in via post, any votes (including special votes) cast at district council offices on Saturday will have to be transported to Auckland for counting and inclusion in the preliminary results.
How many councillors will be elected?
One regional council seat – Coastal South – has already been filled with incumbent Rick Stolwerk re-elected unopposed. That leaves 23 people contesting the remaining eight seats on council; six general seats from six general constituencies and two Māori seats within the new Te Raki Māori constituency.
Who’s standing for the regional council?
The full list of this year’s candidates in alphabetical order (surname) by constituency is:
Bay of Islands-Whangaroa General Constituency (one vacancy);
Phil Gentry, Peter Gill, Tania McInnes, Marty Robinson
Coastal Central General Constituency (one vacancy);
Paul Dimery, Amy Macdonald, Christine Woods
Coastal South General Constituency (one vacancy);
Rick Stolwerk- -(elected unopposed)
Far North General Constituency (one vacancy);
Justin Blaikie, Joe Carr, Clyde Samson, Marty Yuretich
Kaipara General Constituency (one vacancy);
John Blackwell, Penny Smart
Mid North General Constituency (one vacancy);
Lesley Adcock, Geoff Crawford, John McCaw, William Sullivan
Te Raki Māori Constituency (two vacancies);
Lance Bryers, Robin Grieve, Peter-Lucas Jones, Tui Shortland
Whangarei Central General Constituency (one vacancy);
Jack Craw, Tony Savage.
What happens after the elections?
At this stage, it’s expected a powhiri for the new council will be held on Tuesday 18 October – and its inaugural meeting will be held from 10.30am on Tuesday 25 October. (We’ll confirm this closer to the time and the public is welcome to attend).
Who will lead the council’s governance arm?
One of the first orders of business for the new council will be the swearing in of councillors, then selection of council’s new chair and their deputy.
Unlike district councils, whose mayors are chosen by the public through local elections, the regional council’s equivalent – its chair – will be voted in by the councillors themselves.
What committees will there be?
Another of the first tasks the new council will need to consider in the weeks after its members are sworn in is its governance structure; what committees etc the council will have to oversee particular areas of work over the next three years and who will chair them?
There are currently three committees that the regional council is legally required to have or be part of;
- The Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group (a joint committee of all four councils in Northland)
- The Regional Transport Committee (made up of selected regional council members along with representatives of all three district councils and the New Zealand Transport Agency)
- Te Oneroa-a-Tōhē/Ninety Mile Beach Board (the regional council currently has two representatives on this board).
Realistically, councillors are not expected to establish the post-election governance structure until November/December.
What will they be paid?
The new council will also need to allocate a remuneration pool, which has already been independently set by the Remuneration Authority. The only councillor whose exact post-election salary has already been determined by the authority, will be the chair and that figure will be $133,892. That will leave $580,951 to be divided amongst the remaining eight councillors post-election.
(For context, the current chair’s remuneration – again, independently set by the authority and effective for the current term of council – is $128,271 which includes full private use of a council-owned vehicle. The annual remuneration for council’s current deputy chair is $79,181 and all other councillors are paid $71,681.
