The 2025 local body elections are over with the Official Results finally released.
First, I wish to thank all those people who voted for me, especially the dedicated team of volunteers led by Puneet Dhall, who worked so hard on my behalf. There are never any easy elections in Waitematā & Gulf and this was no exception with six election debates. I think the mayoral contenders had three?
My thanks to candidates Gen Sage, Selena Renner and Lester Bryant who called me after the election to congratulate me.
Next, congratulations to Alex Bonham of City Vision and the successful candidates for the Waitematā Local Board, and my commiserations to those who missed out, especially Allan Matson and the talented new C&R candidates led by Muy Chhour.
It was gratifying also to be voted back in with an emphatically increased majority. In the 2022 elections it was 1161. This time I was 1856 ahead of 2nd place City Vision’s Patrick Reynolds (whom I haven’t heard from). All the more so because the increase was achieved despite an overall decline in voter participation. This was a nation-wide trend but across Auckland it was even more pronounced – only 29.3% of qualified electors voting. One consolation, Waitematā & Gulf had the highest percentage of voter participation in Auckland at 33.9%. Helped by Waiheke and Aotea / Great Barrier this was almost 5% above the average. Another example of how special the Waitematā & Gulf ward is and how honoured I am to represent it.
Another message from voters was a swing against the National-led government. Given its performance so far – especially Chris Bishop’s heavy-handed interference in Auckland planning rules to maintain an extra two million potential dwellings, thus providing the pretext for the council to impose 50m luxury apartment towers in our special character areas of St Marys Bay, Freemans Bay and Parnell. The public rebuke is not surprising.
This election also revealed another message - widespread public disaffection with the councils themselves as Dr Bryce Edwards of the Integrity Institute commented: “The results of the 2025 local government elections have delivered a verdict on the state of New Zealand’s democracy, and it is a damning one. The most telling statistic is not who won, but who refused to participate.
"This is not a simple case of voter apathy but of voter antipathy. It’s a collective shrug of the shoulders by about two-thirds of voters, who simply haven’t been convinced that it’s worth participating. Such a silent vote of “no confidence” in the entire local government political establishment should be taken seriously as a strong political signal of public discontent and disillusionment. It signals that local government is yet another part of “Broken New Zealand” that needs serious reform rather than the standard tweaks that the political class are normally more interested in…The national affairs editor for the Sunday Star-Times, Andrea Vance, captured the mood perfectly today: “The public is both disillusioned and disengaged. With turnout this dire, the local government sector needs to have a long, hard look at itself”.
Unfortunately, going by the self-serving statements emanating from at least one Auckland Council manager, the message has yet to sink in.
There were other concerning aspects to this election. This was the record number (described by the returning officer as “extraordinary”) of special votes. Over 10,000 in Auckland alone of which about half proved to be invalid. This was even more puzzling given the sharp fall-off in regular votes cast. Then there is the police case relating to large-scale vote stealing in Papatoetoe and rumours of abuses and vote harvesting elsewhere. Clearly a message to be taken from this election is not that only is the public losing confidence in local government, but there are real problems in the way local elections are being managed. Votes left poking out of letter boxes and left lying around apartment lobbies for weeks at a time, and reports of ‘social voting’ suggest the process is anything but secure. For my part I can see no reason why local government elections should be organised any differently from parliamentary elections. So one more cause to add to my list.
Once again thank you. It’s an honour to serve. (MIKE LEE)
