Western Bay of Plenty Council byelections: Laura Rae and Chris Dever lead preliminary results

Preliminary results are in for two byelections in the Western Bay of Plenty Council district.

Laura Rae is set to be elected to the Western Bay of Plenty District Council as the Maketu-Te Puke councillor, while Chris Dever appears to have been elected to the Ōmokoroa Community Board, Western Bay of Plenty Council said in a statement.

The byelections were prompted after Maketū-Te Puke councillor Richard Crawford died after suffering a heart attack on March 31 and, on April 17, Ōmokoroa Community Board member Greig Neilson resigned from his role with immediate effect.

Laura Rae.

These followed the August 2023 resignations of Anish Paudel from the Te Puke Community Board and Alan Kurtovich from the Waihī Beach Community Board.

The voter return for this byelection was 36.84% (1543 votes). There were 13 special votes yet to be processed for Maketū–Te Puke, and 22 for Ōmokoroa.

Rae and Dever are expected to be sworn into their roles at the council’s next meeting on August 15.

Chris Dever.

In April, the Bay of Plenty Times reported the costs of the two current byelections would be between $16,255 and $67,646, depending on whether the seats were uncontested.

Preliminary byelections results

(Voting closed on July 18)

Maketu-Te Puke Ward

Laura Rae – 1566 votes

Bernard Holmes – 663 votes

Anthony Te Uruhi Wihapi – 502 votes

The voter return for this election was 20.92 per cent (2744 votes)

Ōmokoroa Community Board

Chris Dever – 622 votes

Murray Marshall – 533 votes

Steve Ling – 379 votes