Grant Smith easily re-elected as Palmerston North mayor

The elected fresh faces on Palmerston North City Council are William Wood (left), Kaydee Zabelin and Mark Arnott. Photos / Palmerston North City Council

As expected, Grant Smith romped home for another term as Palmerston North mayor.

William Wood, one of the candidates Smith nominated for the Te Hirawanui General Ward, had spectacular success topping the councillor poll.

Wood came second in last year's byelection, which was won by Orphee Mickalad. Mickalad was also nominated by Smith in this election. Mickalad's other nominator, Karen Naylor, received fewer votes than him but was easily re-elected.

However, the third candidate Smith backed, Rhia Taonui, was fifth in the also-rans.

Two councillors were ousted - one-term Labour-backed Zulfiqar Butt and two-termer Bruno Petrenas. Butt was the lower polling councillor in 2019 and Petrenas third to lowest.

Joining Wood as newly elected councillors are businessman Mark Arnott and Green-backed Kaydee Zabelin. She was back waving her sign to Tuesday morning commuters, this time with a thank you in place of the vote#1 wording.

In a Facebook post, Wood said he had got to know many of the candidates during the campaign. "I would love to catch up with any of you to see what I can do to support your vision for the city."

Despite 3356 voting documents being received on the final day, the turnout failed to reach 40 per cent. Excluding special votes cast on Saturday, it sits at 36 per cent or 21,631 voting documents returned.

The turnout for the 2019 local election was 37.32 per cent, equating to 20,836 documents returned.

Meanwhile, there was no change for Palmerston North around the Horizons Regional Council table with the four sitting councillors returned. Te Kenehi Teira makes history as the first Tonga Māori councillor.

Preliminary results for Palmerston North City Council:

Mayor
Grant Smith 16,500 votes
Glenn Mitchell 2505
Hussein Pierre Kikhounga-Ngot 1381
Ross Barber 439

Te Hirawanui General Ward
in order elected:
William Wood
Rachel Bowen
Lew Findlay
Brent Barrett
Orphee Mickalad
Karen Naylor
Vaughan Dennison
Mark Arnott
Lorna Johnson
Patrick Handcock
Leonie Hapeta
Billy Meehan
Kaydee Zabelin

Wood, Bowen, Findlay and Barrett reached the quote required for election using first preferences.

Excluded candidates, from the highest polling:

James Candish
Zulfiqar Butt
Les Fugle
Atif Rahim
Rhia Taonui
Bruno Petrenas
Manjit Chawla
Samuel Walmsley
Mike Clement
Mel Butler
Dion Jensen
Tania Lamb
Chiu Yeung Lee
Jacinta Fraser
Hussein Pierre Kikhounga-Ngot
Murray Wellington
Meenal Dutt
Anton Woollams
Zakk Rokkanno
Nathan Wilson

Preliminary results for Horizons Regional Council:

Palmerston North constituency (four members)
Jono Naylor 13,136
Rachel Keedwell 12,923
Fiona Gordon 10,648
Wiremu Te Awe Awe 9407
Bal Ghimire 5174
Informal votes 262
Blank votes 1166

At the 2019 election, Keedwell topped the poll, followed by Naylor, Te Awe Awe and Gordon.

Tonga Māori constituency (one member)
Te Kenehi Teira 1264
Warwick Gernhoefer 388
Informal votes 12
Blank votes 217

This is a Public Interest Journalism funded role through NZ On Air