Source: Radio New Zealand
A High Court judge in Auckland has reserved her decision on whether to overturn a District Court ruling that voided the outcome of the 2025 local body election in Papatoetoe.
The petition had been filed by the Papatoetoe Ōtara Action Team, which won all four seats on the Local Board subdivision.
Closing proceedings for the day, High Court Justice Jane Anderson said it was a “tricky, conceptual, intellectual exercise”.
The judge promised to deliver the decision as quickly as possible.
Ben Keith, legal counsel representing the winning candidates, called Manukau District Court Judge Richard McIlraith’s decision in December “neither fair, nor sound”.
In his submissions, Keith said the District Court appeared to accept the argument presented by former Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board member Lehopoaome Vi Hausia that a 7 percent increase in voter turnout could only be explained by misconduct.
However, Kieth argued the court should have considered other possibilities, pointing to a lengthy list of campaign activities that had been undertaken by the Papatoetoe Ōtara Action Team as well as extra votes that had been prompted by Auckland Council’s “vote on the go” events.
Keith also argued the District Court came to its decision after ignoring demographic changes that had boosted overall voter numbers in recent years, with a greater percentage of Indian households now living in the area.
Simon Mitchell, representing the Labour candidates in the local body election, described the voting irregularities as “significant”.
He dismissed claims the result was due to the winning candidates running a strong campaign or demographic changes in the electorate, describing the irregular special votes in Papatoetoe as an outlier compared to the remainder of Auckland.
Twenty candidates have since thrown their hat into the ring to contest the new Papatoetoe subdivision election that has been organised following the District Court ruling in December.
Voting opens on 9 March and closes at midday on 9 April, with ballots sent by post to all eligible voters.
In December, Judge McIlraith ruled that voting irregularities materially affected the result of the Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board election, declaring it void.
Hausia told the court he had received reports of voting papers being stolen from residents and submitted without their consent.
Hausia also argued the election result was inconsistent with historic voting patterns.
At a preliminary hearing, Judge McIlraith ordered five ballot boxes containing votes from the electorate to be scrutinised.
Seventy-nine voting papers were subsequently identified during examination as having been cast without the rightful voter’s knowledge.
Papatoetoe was the only Auckland electorate to record a significant rise in turnout in the latest local body election.
While other Auckland areas saw turnout drop, voting numbers in Papatoetoe increased by more than 7 percent.
All four seats went to first-time candidates from the Papatoetoe Ōtara Action Team.
The Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board has two subdivisions, with the Ōtara having three seats and Papatoetoe four.
None of the previous local board members of the Papatoetoe subdivision were re-elected.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
