Candidate nomination rush day before closing

As of 4pm Thursday 31 July, a rush of nominations has resulted in two candidates now vying to be mayor of the Far North, but with just hours left before nominations close two elected roles still have no candidates – both in local community boards. The deadline for all candidates standing in the local election is midday Friday 1 August.

There are currently no candidates standing to represent Whangaroa for the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Community Board. For the Kaikohe-Hokianga board there are no candidates for the North Hokianga subdivision. If these positions remain vacant when the nominations close, a by-election will be required. The costs of the by-election would be met by ratepayers.

Today’s nominations

As of today (Thursday 31 July), the council had received 42 nominations for 30 available roles – 15 more than at 4pm yesterday.

Nominations for mayor so far are:

• Moko Tepania
• Joshua Riley

Ngā Tai o Tokerau Māori Ward has attracted six candidates for the four available positions.

All six councillor positions on the general wards have more candidates than available positions.

Last-minute nominations ahead of tomorrow’s deadline may see some potential candidates being disappointed, due to the review and checking process required to ensure the accuracy of each nomination.

A list of candidates who have completed their nominations to stand in the October local election is updated on the FNDC website every weekday at 3pm.

After the deadline to submit candidate nominations passes on Friday, a final list of confirmed candidates is expected to be available on Wednesday 6 August.

Yesterday at 3pm no nominations had officially been received from candidates wishing to stand for election as mayor of the Far North and all three Far North community boards had several roles representing some subdivisions with no candidates.

If you are a thinking about standing, please go to our website for information, including nomination forms. You can also submit forms by creating an account in the online portal.

Each potential candidate must be nominated on the correct nomination paper. Anyone standing for local body elections must be a New Zealand citizen, over 18 years old and be on the Parliamentary Electoral Roll. They must also be nominated by two people who are enrolled on the Parliamentary Electoral Roll in the area they intend to stand in.

Today is the last day to update your details on the Electoral Roll to get your voting forms posted to your correct address in September.

Printed nomination forms are only available at the following council service centres tomorrow until midday: Kaikohe, Kaitāia, Kerikeri (Procter Library), Kawakawa, Kāeo, Ōpononi (isite), Paihia Library.

Communities interested in hosting a ‘meet the candidate’ event can find contact details of candidates who have made their details public from Wednesday 6 August when the final list of candidates is expected to be available. If you are hosting an event for all mayoral, councillor or community board candidates please contact elections@fndc.govt.nz to discuss promoting it on our website.