2010 Wellington City mayoral election

2010 Wellington City mayoral election
← 2007 9 October 2010[1] 2013 →
 
Candidate Celia Wade-Brown Kerry Prendergast Jack Yan
Party Independent Independent Independent
First preferences 18,560 21,809 5,817
First preferences 34.78% 40.86% 10.90%
2-Candidate Preferred 24,881 24,705
2-Candidate Preferred (%) 50.18% 49.82%
Mayor before election

Kerry Prendergast

 Elected mayor

Celia Wade-Brown

The 2010 Wellington City mayoral election is part of the 2010 New Zealand local elections. On 9 October 2010, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington plus other local government roles. Sitting Green Party councillor Celia Wade-Brown defeated incumbent mayor Kerry Prendergast and four other candidates.

Local government elections

On 9 October 2010, elections were held for the position of mayor of Wellington, for 14 councillors representing the 5 wards of the city council, for the city's 12 community board representatives, for the Capital and Coast District Health Board, for the Greater Wellington Regional Council and for the Hutt Mana Charitable Trust.[2]

Local authority elections are held throughout New Zealand triennially and are conducted by postal vote.[3]

Wellington is one of eight local bodies in New Zealand that uses the Single transferable vote system to elect its mayor and councillors.

Timeline

Nominations opened for candidates to register with the returning officer on 23 July 2010.[4] Nominations close on 20 Aug 2010. Voting documents will be delivered on 17 Sep 2010.

Under section 10 of the Local Electoral Act 2001,[5] a "general election of members of every local authority or community board must be held on the second Saturday in October in every third year" from the date the Act came into effect in 2001, meaning 9 October 2010. On election day, voting closed at 12 noon.

Candidates

Candidates who declared that they would contest the mayoralty were the incumbent Kerry Prendergast (who announced that she would want a fourth term back in early 2010 after initially ruling it out), city councillor Celia Wade-Brown and Jack Yan. Alan Probert opted not to stand and instead endorsed Wade-Brown. [1] Several other candidates including Andy Foster, Brian Pepperell and Rob Goulden have announced that they will stand for the mayoralty. [2] The final candidates standing in the 2010 election were: Mayor Kerry Prendergast, councillors Celia Wade-Brown and Bryan Pepperell, businessman Jack Yan, Al Mansell and Bernard O'Shaughnessy. [3]

Name Affiliation (if any) Notes
Al Mansell
Bernard O'Shaughnessy Coalition and Transition
Bryan Pepperell For the Public Interest Current Southern ward councillor
Kerry Prendergast Kerry4Mayor Incumbent
Celia Wade-Brown A good choice for Wellington Current Southern ward councillor
Jack Yan

Opinion polls

An opinion poll for the Dominion Post asked on 3 March 2010:[6]

Would you vote for Kerry Prendergast for a fourth term as Wellington mayor?

25% said that they would vote for her, whilst 44% said that they would not.[7] Another online poll conducted by the Dominion Post asked on 25 November 2009:[8]

Who should be Wellington's next mayor?

As of mid May 2010, 450 people had voted, with Bryan Pepperell achieving 40.3% of the votes, Celia Wade Brown was second with 26.9% and Kerry Prendergast was on 4.0%.[9]

One poll released on 2 October 2010, showed Prendergast with 33% followed by Wade-Brown on 25%. Jack Yan had 9% with Bryan Peperell on 8%. [4]

Result

Celia Wade-Brown won the election in the final round of the single transferable vote count by 24,881 to 24,705. She was ranked ahead of Kerry Prendergast on a significant number of ballots from the four trailing candidates after they were eliminated, which allowed her to overcome Prendergast's lead after the first round of counting (21,809 to 18,560),[10] although Kerry Prendergast was leading by 40 votes before special votes were counted. [11]

2010 Wellington mayoral election
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5
Independent Green tickYCelia Wade-Brown 34.77 18,560 18,675 19,002 21,422 24,881
Independent Kerry Prendergast 40.86 21,809 21,863 22,021 22,899 24,705
Independent Jack Yan 10.89 5,817 5,924 6,144 7,426  
Independent Bryan Pepperell 10.41 5,560 5,652 5,954    
Independent Bernard O'Shaughnessy 2.02 1,081 1,174      
Independent Al Mansell 1.01 542        
Electorate: 135,556   Valid: 53,369   Spoilt: 1,005   Quota: 26,685   Turnout: 54,374 (40.11%)  

Ward results

See also: 2010 Wellington local elections

Candidates were also elected from wards to the Wellington City Council.

Party/ticket Councillors
Independent 11
Labour 2
Greens 1

References

  1. ^ "2007 Local Elections". Electoral Commission.
  2. ^ "Election 2010 - Overview". Wellington City Council. Archived from the original on 4 June 2010. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  3. ^ "Council elections". Christchurch City Council. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
  4. ^ "2010 Elections timetable". Wellington City Council. Archived from the original on 22 May 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
  5. ^ "Triennial general election". New Zealand Legislation. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
  6. ^ BURGESS, DAVE (14 May 2010). "Wellington mayor seeks 4th term". The Dominion Post.
  7. ^ "Would you vote for Kerry Prendergast for a fourth term as Wellington mayor?". Dominion Post. Retrieved 14 May 2010. [dead link‍]
  8. ^ CHIPP, Jim (14 May 2010). "Wellington's mayoral race heats up". The Dominion Post.
  9. ^ "Who should be Wellington's next mayor?". Dominion Post. Retrieved 14 May 2010. [dead link‍]
  10. ^ Watts, Jerram (13 October 2010). "Celia Wade Brown wins Wellington". 3 News. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
  11. ^ *"Kerry Prendergast by a whisker". Stuff/Fairfax. 9 October 2010.