8 October 2016 2019 → 24,697 15,844 Party Labour | Turnout 45.57% Popular vote 31,921 | |
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Winner Justin Lester | ||
The 2016 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections and was held on 8 October to determine the next Mayor of Wellington City. The incumbent was Celia Wade-Brown, who was first elected in the 2010 mayoral election. Wade-Brown did not seek re-election. Her title was pursued by her deputy, Justin Lester, councillors Jo Coughlan, Andy Foster, Helene Ritchie and Nicola Young, former mayor of Porirua City Nick Leggett and independent candidates Keith Johnson and Johnny Overton.
Contents
Lester won the election becoming the 35th Mayor of Wellington, Leggett came second and Coughlan third.
Candidates
Wade-Brown decided against standing for a third term as mayor. However, eight other candidates sought her position.
Confirmed
Coughlan was first elected as Councillor for the Onslow-Western ward in 2007. Previously, Coughlan gave serious consideration to running for Mayor in the 2013 election. Coughlan currently chairs the Council Economic Growth and Arts Committee and is a member of other committees, including the Environment and Community, Sports and Recreation Committees. She ran as an independent candidate, but was a press secretary for Sir Don McKinnon (National) while he was serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. She is the sister-in-law of then Deputy Prime Minister, Bill English.
Veteran councillor Foster, the council's current Transport and Urban Development Committee Chairman, has been serving the Wellington City Council for well over two decades. He also sought re-election as a councillor in the Onslow-Western Ward.
Dr Keith Johnson, an economic policy analyst and blogger from Island Bay, announced his candidacy in April 2016. Johnson ran for the Southern Ward in 2010 with the Labour Party alongside Paul Eagle and in 2013 proposed to stand for mayor. He subsequently withdrew, saying that "There was not much resonance in the concerns I had for debt control and against the rebalancing of rates".
Leggett has been the mayor of Porirua City since 2010. In March 2016, he announced he would not stand in the upcoming local body elections, hinting at running in the election for mayor in Wellington City. In April, Leggett resigned from the Labour Party and confirmed his intention to stand. Central to his launch campaign speech was a desire to put an end to the "bickering" and "palace politics" holding the Wellington City Council back, resolve transport issues including supporting twin tunnels to the airport and to facilitate (not fund) a new Sports Museum and Virtual Reality Centre for Wellington.
Lester was first elected as a Wellington City Councillor in 2010. When mayors were given the ability to choose their deputy without involving councillors after the 2013 election, Wade-Brown chose Lester. Lester ran on a Labour Party ticket. He went on to win the election.
Overton, representing the 'Localisation Party', announced his candidacy in early August 2016. He is a fringe dwelling guerrilla gardener, artist & political activist. In the 2014 general election he contested the seat of Rongotai for the 'Peoples Revolutionary Front', finishing in last place with 0.12% of the vote.
Helene Ritchie announced her candidacy for the mayoralty, her 11th term as councillor and a position on the District Health Board on 15 July, the day nominations for local elections opened. Days before the nominations closed, Ritchie opted to campaign only for the mayoralty, withdrawing from all other contests except for the Capital and Coast DHB. She previously served as Deputy Mayor and leader of the Labour caucus on council.
Young was first elected in 2013. She originally stood for the city council only, but then also nominated herself for the mayoralty. Of the six mayoral candidates, she came fourth. Young is an Independent councillor; she formerly stood for the National Party in the 2005 general election in Wellington's Rongotai electorate. Her father was the former cabinet minister Bill Young, and she is the sister of former National list MP Annabel Young.
Withdrew
Wade-Brown was first elected as a Wellington City Councillor in 1994 and apart from a three-year break served on council until she was elected mayor in the 2010 election. Whilst she has always stood as an independent during her mayoralty, she is generally associated with the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, and The Dominion Post commented that "everything about her shouts 'Green'". On 5 August, Wade-Brown pulled out of the race. Wade-Brown announced her endorsement of Justin Lester as her preferred successor on 2 September.
Opinion polling
Several polls were conducted indicating a tight race with Justin Lester, Jo Coughlan and Nick Leggett polling the strongest.