Nominations for this year’s local government elections closed at midday today, with a swell of final-week nominations resulting in a bumper turnout across Ōtepoti Dunedin.
“While a number of last-minute applications are still being checked and processed, we can confirm there are 16 nominees for the mayoralty and more than 55 for Council at large,” says DCC Deputy Electoral Officer, Robyn Dillon.
Elections will be held in all six Community Boards – Mosgiel-Taieri, Strath Taieri, Saddle Hill, Otago Peninsula, Waikouaiti Coast, West Harbour – after a rush of nominations over the past week.
Long-serving Dunedin City Councillor David Benson-Pope and a number of Community Board members are not standing in this election, and their service and contributions to the community will be acknowledged at a Council meeting on 7 October.
“I am delighted to see such a high level of community engagement and participation in the democratic process,” says Sandy Graham, DCC Chief Executive. “Our role is to encourage candidacy, so it’s wonderful to have so many people stepping up and standing for election across Ōtepoti Dunedin.”
Throughout the nomination period, the DCC ran a quirky promotional campaign challenging those who thought they could do better to put themselves forward for election. This included a video developed in collaboration with local comedian Harriet Moir, which has been viewed 82,000 times.
Dunedin’s confirmed candidate list will display ‘final’ status when all valid nominations have been processed. This is not likely to be until Monday, 4 August, due to the high volume of nominations received.