Candidates nearly outnumbered the audience at such a poorly attended city council election meeting last night that organiser, Multicultural Tauranga president Ewa Fenn, apologised.
The 12 mayoral and council candidates looked out to a smattering of faces in the Tauranga Historic Village hall, where the audience of 15 included partners of candidates and candidates who were not invited to speak.
It followed the low turnout to Monday's public meeting for mayoral candidates organised by the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce where the predominantly retired audience of 160 highlighted how most of the chamber's 700 members had opted to stay away.
Last night's turnout was underlined by audience member and Bay of Plenty Regional Council candidate Ian McLean when he said the low number was evidence of a complete lack of engagement by the community in the elections, particularly the ethnic and migrant residents that Multicultural Tauranga had tried to attract.
Barry Reid, who chaired the meeting, said afterwards that invitations had been sent out to the organisation's 72 individual members and 30 groups.