Less than 48 hours for regional councillor nominations

Less than 48 hours remains for people keen to stand for the Northland Regional Council at this year’s local body elections to get their official nominations in.

The official cut off for nominations for those wanting to contest the Saturday October 12 elections is noon on Friday 16 August.

Council Electoral Official Vibeke Wright says as of noon today (subs: Weds 14 August) the council had received just 12 official nominations.

They are:

Coastal North constituency (two vacancies); Dover Samuels, Spencer Scoular and Bill Shepherd
Coastal South constituency (one vacancy); Craig Brown, Jan Vaudrey
Hokianga Kaikohe constituency (one vacancy); Joe Carr, Simon Land
Kaipara constituency (one vacancy); Graeme Ramsey
Te Hiku constituency (one vacancy); Dennis Bowman, Mike Finlayson
Whangarei Urban constituency (two vacancies); John Bain, Bill Rossiter.

In the Coastal Central constituency, which covers the area from Whangarei Heads up to Matapouri and including Onerahi and Glenbervie, the council has yet to receive any nominations for the one position available.

In the unlikely event that was still the case once the official nomination period ended on Friday, a by-election would need to be held in February next year (the earliest this could legally be done is February 10).

Ms Wright says she expects that as is the case with most elections, there will be a number of last minute nominations over the next two days.

However, she urges prospective candidates not to leave it too much later to ensure all requirements are met and that their nomination is fully and properly processed well before the deadline.

Ms Wright says in common with some other local bodies in Northland, the regional council has noticed nomination numbers have been slower this election.

“There could be a number of contributing factors to this, including the possibility of local government reform in the region during the next political term, as well as the fact the regional council now has more than twice as many constituencies as previously (seven versus three last election).”

Changes signed off by the Local Government Commission earlier this year that these elections Northlanders will vote for nine regional councillors (one more than currently elected) representing seven, smaller constituencies across the North.

At the last local body elections in 2010, 25 hopefuls contested the eight regional council seats available at that time.

Ms Wright says nomination forms and candidate information booklets are available from any Northland Regional Council office as well as from all three district councils’ offices.

Copies can also be obtained by phoning (0800) 002 004 or downloaded from the council’s website via www.nrc.govt.nz/elections

Voting documents will be sent out from Friday 20 September and must be returned in the envelope provided by noon on Election Day, Saturday 12 October.

ENDS

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