Progress results for the Dunedin City Council election are now available on the DCC website.
As at 4.05pm on Saturday (11 October 2025), Councillor Sophie Barker (12,782 votes) is the Mayor-elect with a margin of 105 votes over second placed candidate Andrew Simms (12,677 votes).
However, with more than 9000 votes still to count, results could yet change, DCC Deputy Electoral Officer Robyn Dillon says.
Based on the progress results, five incumbent Councillors would miss out on re-election – Councillors Andrew Whiley, Carmen Houlahan, Bill Acklin, Jim O’Malley and Kevin Gilbert.
The results would also see six new faces at the Council table – Andrew Simms, John Chambers, Russell Lund, Benedict Ong, Doug Hall and Bruce Ranga.
Long-serving Councillor David Benson-Pope retired at the election.
“The results – both for the Mayoralty and Councillors – are very tight. Dunedin, in its traditional way, left it until the last minute, but we received more than 9400 voting papers this morning.
“Counting is continuing and we hope to have preliminary results available late this evening. These will be published on the DCC website as soon as they are available.
“Final results are expected by Thursday next week.”