Final NPDC Election Results Confirmed: EJ Barrett Unseats Bryan Vickery, Max Brough Mayor

Taranaki’s final election results (including special votes) were expected to be declared before 4pm on Friday 17th October, however there was a delay due to the large volume of special votes cast. Across the councils covered by our Electoral Officer, there were a total of 22,000 special votes – a 46% increase on the last local body elections.

The delayed results have now been declared, providing confirmation of the final line-up of NPDC councillors around the table over the next three years.

Two seats held by a small margin when preliminary results were released on Sunday included EJ Barrett, who moved ahead of Bryan Vickery by 151 votes to unseat him, and also Dinnie Moeahu who held a 133 vote lead over Amanda Clinton-Ghodes.

It’s now confirmed both EJ Barrett and Dinnie Moeahu have maintained their leads to secure their spots on Council.

Final election results for NPDC:

Mayor

1. Max Brough newly elected mayor with 13,984 votes
2. Runner-up: David Bublitz with 6,296 votes

District-Wide Councillors At-Large

1. Murray Chong re-elected with 9,566 votes
2. David Bublitz re-elected with 4,743 votes
3. John Woodward newly elected with 4,701 votes
4. Sam Bennett re-elected with 4,182 votes
5. Dinnie Moeahu re-elected with 3,914 votes
6. Runner-up: Amanda Clinton-Ghodes with 3,780 votes

Kaitake-Ngāmotu General Ward

1. Gordon Brown re-elected with 2,832 votes
2. Graham Chard newly elected with 2,523 votes
3. Moira George newly elected with 2,555 votes
4. Damon Fox (Act Local) newly elected with 2,479votes
5. Kerry Vosseler newly elected with 2,389 votes
6. EJ Barrett newly elected with 2,365 votes
7. Runner-up: Bryan Vickery with 2,159 votes

Kōhanga Moa General Ward (1 seat)

1. Christine Fabish newly elected with 1,542 votes
2. Runner-up: Sarah Lucas with 1,422 votes

North General Ward

1. Gina Blackburn newly elected with 1,115 votes
2. Runner-up: Ian Cummings with 918 votes

Te Purutanga Mauri Pūmanawa Māori Ward

1. Te Waka Mcleod re-elected with 1,116 votes
2. Runner-up: Peter Moeahu with 545 votes

Māori Wards Poll

• Remove: 15,004 votes
• Keep: 12,046 votes
• Blank: 1,564
• Informal: 11

Check out our article below profiling each of the newly-elected candidates and outlining what they stand for.

A flurry of last-minute votes has pushed returns in New Plymouth District’s local elections to just over 46 per cent, up on the 45.1 per cent in 2022 around 10 per cent ahead of the national average.

Meanwhile the final results released today cements the Mayor, Councillors and Community Board members who will shape our district over the next three years and confirms that this will be the last term for our Mâori ward, at least for the next few elections.

There is no change to Mayor or councillor positions but there have been changes on the Waitara and Inglewood Community Boards

The final count in the Māori ward referendum is 15,004 to remove and 12,046 to keep

As well as increasing voter turnout, the number of voting papers this year was up from 27,163 last election to 28,625 this year. We were also ahead of similar sized councils with Palmerston North City Council with sitting at 41.2 per cent (before final results) and Hasting District Council with a final of 45.5 per cent.

“Those last few days of the election campaign were extremely busy, and we had long queues at the drive-through on Saturday for last minute voters,” says NPDC Customer & Communication Manager Ben Kohlis.

“We’re pleased to see voter turnout growing but it is clear there needs to be a conversation at national level about how to get more people engaged in local elections to improve voter turnout so we look forward seeing how that progresses.

NPDC will also be conducting a survey to obtain feedback on voter participation.