Moko Tepania, 31, is the Far North's youngest and first Māori mayor. Photo / Tania Whyte
Moko Tepania, 31, is the Far North's youngest and first Māori mayor. Photo / Tania Whyte
A 31-year-old te reo teacher has made history by being voted the first Māori mayor of the Far North.
Moko Tepania, a one-term councillor who teaches at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kaikohe, beat long-serving council veteran Ann Court to the top job after a nail-biting final week in which last-minute and special votes determined the outcome.
Tepania (Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa, Te Rarawa) is also the youngest mayor ever elected in Northland and will lead a 10-member council which has, also for the first time in Far North history, a Māori majority.
An emotional Tepania told the Advocate he was almost lost for words.
"It's extremely overwhelming but in such a beautiful way, to be confirmed as the new mayor of the Far North."
The past week had brought home to him just how many people had been following his campaign.
"I've been hearing from people here in the Far North, across Aotearoa New Zealand, and around the world who I didn't even know were part of this journey with me to try and bring positive change to the Far North, just how invested they are in what this actually means ... It's so beautiful, I'm so excited, I'm so humbled I don't even really have words to express it."
"The next three years will be a testament to the fact that we are a district that will be progressive, a district that will bring change. I am so incredibly lucky to be chosen to lead that change," he said.
Eight candidates contested the mayoralty with the election held for the first time using the single transferable vote (STV) system.
When the initial progress results were released last Saturday, Court had 5995 votes to Tepania's 5750, a lead of 245.
One day later, once Saturday morning's last-minute votes had been counted, their positions had switched. At that point Tepania had 7535 votes to Court's 7288, a lead of 247.
Since then staff at Election Services in Auckland have been painstakingly counting and verifying special votes.
In the final result Tepania had 7805 votes to Court's 7362, a margin of 443 votes.
The results were announced just after 10.30pm on Friday.
Tepania ran the most visible campaign of any mayoral candidate with billboards and leaflet drops in every corner of the district and a large team of volunteer helpers.
If elected he said he would provide inclusive and open leadership, genuine engagement with communities, greater council transparency and improved communication.
He also pledged to give the Far North a strong voice on the national stage, and said he would campaign for civics education in schools — which would ultimately lead to greater understanding of, and participation in, local democracy.
For an entire week the election was too close to call between Moko Tepania and Ann Court. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Because both Tepania and Court also won council seats, the final make-up of the council remained uncertain until the mayoralty was decided.
With Tepania claiming the mayoral chains, his place at the council table has been taken by Babe Kapa, the next highest-ranked candidate in Ngā Tai o Tokerau Māori Ward.
Those rankings had to be recalculated because, under the STV system, Tepania's votes as a council candidate were redistributed among the 17 other candidates vying for the ward's four seats.
The successful councillors are Hilda Halkyard-Harawira, Tāmati Rākena, Penetaui Kleskovic and Babe Kapa (Ngā Tai o Tokerau Māori Ward), Ann Court, Kelly Stratford and Steve McNally (Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Ward), Felicity Foy and Mate Radich (Te Hiku Ward), and John Vujcich (Kaikohe-Hokianga Ward).
Even before today's result, Tepania had started rewriting council history.
He is thought to be the first candidate standing in a Māori ward to win the mayoralty anywhere in New Zealand.
In May 2020 a report he submitted as part of a council agenda was thought to have been the first fully in te reo Māori; while at September 2020's meeting, to mark Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week), he spoke only in te reo — another possible first for a council meeting. A translator was present for the benefit of other councillors.
Tepania played a key role in the introduction of a Māori ward to the Far North District Council by getting a resolution back on the agenda, in May 2021, after an earlier attempt had been voted down.
His resolution was passed 7-3 after an intense, emotionally-charged debate in a packed council chamber.
Last term Tepania was on the national executive of the Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) subcommittee Te Maruata, a collective of Māori working in local government, and was the chairman of LGNZ's Young Elected Members Committee.
He was the youngest councillor elected in Northland in the 2019 elections.
While Tepania is the first Māori to hold the Far North's top job, other Māori mayors have come before him in Northland.
Four-term Whangārei Mayor Stan Semenoff (1989-98, 2007-10) has whakapapa Māori, and boroughs such as Kaikohe had Māori mayors prior to the local government amalgamations of 1989.
The Far North District has now had six mayors. Tepania's predecessors are the late Millie Srhoj (1989-92), Sue James (1992-98), Yvonne Sharp (1998-2007), Wayne Brown (2007-13, now Mayor of Auckland) and John Carter (2013-22).
The Far North race was not the closest mayoral election in New Zealand. That was in Gore, where 23-year-old Ben Bell — New Zealand's youngest-ever mayor — beat three-term incumbent Tracy Hicks with a margin of just eight votes.
FINAL RESULTS
Mayor: Moko Tepania
Councillors
Ngā Tai o Tokerau Māori Ward: Hilda Halkyard-Harawira, Tamati Rakena, Penetaui Kleskovic, Babe Kapa.
Bay of Islands-Whangaroa General Ward: Ann Court, Kelly Stratford, Steve McNally.
Doubtless Bay Subdivision: Sheryl Bainbridge. Kaitaia Subdivision: Adele Gardner, Rachel Baucke, John Stewart. North Cape Subdivision: Darren Axe. Whatuwhiwhi Subdivision: William Subritzky.
