Votes counted with one change
John Funnell is the new Mayor of Taupō. Photo: Dan Hutchinson
All votes are now counted in the Taupō District Council elections with one change from the preliminary results.
Steve Manunui has pulled ahead of Barry Delany to take the seventh Taupō Ward seat, by just seven votes.
In the Mangakino-Pouakani Ward the seat has gone to Hope Woodward, who wound up seven votes ahead of fellow candidate Marlene Johnson.
The final result includes 671 special votes which were counted this week.
Following the progress results on Saturday and preliminary results from Monday, three seats at the council table hung in the balance with fewer than 20 votes separating candidates. The other was the Te Papamārearea Māori Ward seat.
There was no change to the preliminary results in those two seats with Wahine Murch and Ngāhuia Foreman elected. The unsuccessful candidate, encumbent councillor Danny Loughlin, ended 15 votes behind.
In the closely fought Taupō Ward Steve Manunui pulled ahead of Barry Delany when special votes were counted to take the last remaining Taupō Ward seat. On Monday, Delany was ahead by 18 votes but in the final count Manunui got 4279 votes compared to Delany’s 4272.
The result in the Te Papamārearea Māori Ward has remained unchanged, with Wahine Murch and Ngāhuia Foreman elected to the two seats. The unsuccessful candidate, Danny Loughlin, was 15 votes behind.
All other results remain unchanged although the number of final votes per candidate has varied. The successful mayoral candidate is still John Funnell and the Māori ward poll result remains to remove the ward for the 2028 and 2031 elections.
The final voter turnout was an impressive 55.36 percent or 15,866 votes.
Mayoralty
FUNNELL, John (Independent) 5,600
COZENS, Zane (Independent) 4,245
TREWAVAS, David James 2,985
TAYLOR, Kevin (Independent) 2,866
INFORMAL 6
BLANK VOTING PAPERS 164
Mangakino-Pouākani Ward (1 vacancy)
WOODWARD, Hope (Let's Go Taupō)327
JOHNSON, Marlene 320
INFORMAL 0
BLANK VOTING PAPERS 33
Taupō East Rural Ward (1 vacancy)
LEONARD, Kylie (Independent) 501
STAFFORD, Rebecca (Let's Go Taupō) 316
INFORMAL 0
BLANK VOTING PAPERS 55
Taupō Ward (7 vacancies)
RANKIN, Christine 5,562
TAYLOR, Kevin (Independent) 5,398
SHEPHERD, Rachel 5,233
WESTERMAN, Yvonne (Independent) 5,031
CAMPBELL, Duncan 4,893
DE LAUTOUR, Nicola 4,881
MANUNUI, Steve 4,279
DELANY, Barry Owen 4,272
YEOMAN, Julie 4,115
WALKER, Belinda (Independent) 3,935
TWEEDIE, Ann (Let's Go Taupo) 3,032
PUNTER, Steve (Independent) 2,810
CLARKE, Bill 2,671
CADE, Richard 1,810
FREEMAN, David 1,357
WYNYARD, Mark 734
WILSON, Katrin (Independent)434
INFORMAL28
BLANK VOTING PAPERS 132
Te Papamārearea Māori Ward (2 vacancies)
MURCH, Wahine 1,150
FOREMAN (NEE ASHER), Ngāhuia (Toitū Te Tiriti) 881
LOUGHLIN, Danny Aperahama 866
INFORMAL 0
BLANK VOTING PAPERS 37
Tūrangi-Tongariro Ward (1 vacancy)
GREENSLADE, Sandra 959
RAFFERTY (RAFF), Alan 505
LIVINGSTONE, David 151
INFORMAL 6
BLANK VOTING PAPERS 37