Local elections: First past the post - or single transferable voting?

The Hastings District Council building, where councillors on August 10 decided to stick with first past the post voting for the 2025 local elections. The regional council and Napier City Council make their decisions in the next two days. Photo / NZME

Hawke’s Bay councils this week seem set to complete a rejection of a local government review recommendation of changes to how their mayors and councillors are elected.

The councils have traditionally used first past the post voting (FPP), where voters pick each candidate they wish to be elected.

But the review recommends a change to single transferable voting (STV), where voters rank the candidates in order of preference.

The Hastings, Central Hawke’s Bay and Wairoa district councils have already each decided to retain FPP for the 2025 elections, and the issue is on the agendas for Wednesday’s Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and that for the Napier City Council meeting the following day.

Voters unhappy with the outcome of the council decisions have a right to call for a public poll.

In 2022, 63 councils and authorities used FPP voting and 15, including the Wellington, Hamilton, Dunedin, and Nelson city councils used FPP.

The only use of STV in Hawke’s Bay was for Hawke’s Bay District Health Board representatives, but the health boards no longer exist, having been phased out with the establishment of nationwide health service Te Whatu Ora.

The review stems from ongoing concern for low voter turnouts at the local elections held every three years.

Since the restructuring of local government which slashed the numbers of councils and other authorities in 1989, turnout declined from 56 per cent to 42 per cent in 2022.