Hastings District Council incumbent Lawrence Yule has been elected to serve his fifth term as mayor, following the preliminary results of about 98 per cent of returned voting papers in the district's local government election.
Hastings people have also voted in favour of keeping fluoride in the district's water supply, according to results from the Hastings Fluoride Referendum held alongside election voting.
Mr Yule received 11,049 votes, a majority of 5168 over his nearest mayoral challenger
Havelock North man Wayne Bradshaw (5887), with Simon Nixon third in the mayoral race (4704). Mr Bradshaw and Mr Nixon will return to council after polling among the top eight candidates in the new Hastings-Havelock North Ward.
Also re-elected to that ward, incumbents Cynthina Bowers (8234), Sandra Hazelhurst (8070), Kevin Watkins (7996), Mr Bradshaw (7711), Mr Nixon (7353) and John Roil (6773). New councillors elected to the ward included Malcolm Dixon (7387) and Adrienne Pierce (6166).
Incumbent Scott Henderson did not achieve enough votes for re-election (5810) while incumbent Margaret Twigg did not seek re-election to the ward.