Stuff Digital Edition

Two mayors home free as wannabes focus on cities

A Nelson man is vying for six South Island mayoralties while two incumbent mayors without challengers will not face an election.

Nominations for October’s local body elections – where people can run to be a local councillor, community board member or mayor – closed yesterday afternoon.

Hurunui District Council mayor Marie Black and Central Otago mayor Tim Cadogan will remain mayor for another three years with no rivals to challenge them.

However, in Dunedin, 10 people want to be the next mayor, including the incumbent, Green-aligned Aaron Hawkins. In Christchurch, 11 people will campaign to be the next mayor, including Nikora Nitro, who previously ran unsuccessfully to be a city councillor during last year’s Coastal by-election.

Christchurch’s most high-profile candidates, Phil Mauger and David Meates, are running as independents. Despite this, Mauger has publicly endorsed 13 city council candidates and donated to the campaigns of four of them.

He explained he hoped to avoid leading a council stacked with leftleaning councillors as it was ‘‘very important’’ to have people ‘‘that think the same way as me’’.

The move has been criticised by Meates, who said the strategy risked causing division.

Front Page

en-nz

2022-08-13T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-13T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281487870128805

Stuff Limited