Invercargill mayoralty: Tim Shadbolt happy race is getting crowded

Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt. Photo / NZME

Sir Tim Shadbolt's prediction for how he can win another term as Invercargill mayor appears to be falling into place.

Last year, Shadbolt said his path to victory would be easier if it was a crowded race, and with seven candidates already putting their names forward, his wish is coming true.

"From my point of view, the more people that run the merrier."

Shadbolt's competitors appear not to have taken his advice to settle on a single candidate to avoid splitting the vote if they wanted to defeat him.

However, Invercargill mayoral candidates told the Otago Daily Times yesterday they were not worried about opening a path for Shadbolt by splitting the vote in the city's first-past-the-post (FPP) system.

Shadbolt , deputy mayor Nobby Clark, councillors Rebecca Amundsen, Darren Ludlow and Ian Pottinger, Bluff Community Board member Noel Peterson and former New Zealand First list MP Ria Bond have formally announced their candidacy.

Councillor Marcus Lush and former deputy mayor Toni Biddle have been raised as potential candidates around the city — but both said yesterday they had not made up their minds yet.

Clark said he had no fear at all and believed the crowded field could benefit him as it would split the vote of people who did not want him.

"If there was [only] one candidate standing against me, he would then get all the votes of people who [do] not like me. So from my perspective, the more the merrier."

Peterson also believed "the more the merrier" but Bond believed the expression was incorrect.

"The city needs the best candidate. I think the more people who can back themselves and have the guts to put themselves forward [to the role] should be doing it," she said.

"It's up to the voters to vote smarter."

Ludlow agreed and said the experience and the work of the candidates would make the difference.

"It [the number of candidates] does dilute the vote and that is frustrating. I felt I was justified to stand as I had a strong mandate for so long but it is also people's right. The question voters need to ask is do all those candidates have the chops?"

Pottinger was not worried about the situation and believed some might be standing to get better publicity to get on to the council.

"It is a competition, it is a race. It is like a half-marathon — if there are you and three others or if you and 50 others, it is a legitimate race. The idea is to win."

University of Otago politics professor Janine Hayward said having many candidates showed people cared about the mayor's job.

However, she believed first-past-the-post was a poor system for this type of election as it made a "bad job" of translating community preferences.

Under FPP, the candidate with the most votes wins. Under single transferable voting, voters rank candidates in their order of preference and the candidates were eliminated until a majority was reached, she said.

Under FPP, if a large group of candidates shared the same view on issues, votes would probably be split between them, she said.

"They could get the majority of votes and the community may want ... that type of mayor, but because they voted for different versions of it, they ended up allowing somebody else to get elected.

"So it usually ends up with a minority mayor being elected."

Neither Amundsen nor Shadbolt could be contacted yesterday.

Nominations close on August 12.