By JULIE MIDDLETON
Dozens of local election candidates around the country have been elected unopposed - including 28 people in the Auckland region alone.
The five members of Manukau's Clevedon Community Board, the licensing trusts for Otara, Wiri and Papatoetoe (six people each), and Auckland City's Eastern Bays Community Board (five people) have all been elected without a fight.
For Clevedon's John Cashmore, a sheep and cattle farmer, it is the second time he and community board colleagues have been elected automatically.
However, Mr Cashmore, who will soon start his fourth term, says he is "disappointed" and "disgusted" there wasn't any competition. "It's always a good idea - that's democracy at work," he said.
Local residents "might think we're doing a good job - or maybe they can't be bothered".
In the 2001 local elections, 18 per cent of candidates were elected unopposed.
Nominations for the hundreds of posts across New Zealand's 86 councils, 22 licensing trusts and 21 health boards closed on August 20 and some people knew the score within hours.
Mr Cashmore heard about his win "on the grapevine". It was confirmed by a public notice a week later.
Across New Zealand, nine mayors have been re-elected unopposed, including North Islanders Tim Gilbertson (Central Hawkes Bay), Lawrence Yule (Hastings), Malcolm Campbell (Kawerau), Ian McKelvie (Manawatu) and John Forbes (Opotiki).
Regional council politicians already planning their term include two on Environment Waikato; one on South Waikato District Council; four on Hauraki District Council, one on Thames-Coromandel District Council, two on Environment Bay of Plenty; seven on Hawkes Bay Regional Council, and two on Horizons Regional Council in the Manawatu.
The election information shows that candidates for grass-roots community boards - in 2003, 45 councils had such boards - were most likely to be elected unopposed.
Among the instant winners were those standing for the Dannevirke Community Board and three community boards in the New Plymouth region.
Candidates for various licensing trusts, including the Terawhiti and Johnsonville trusts, were also elected immediately.
But all positions in Waitakere and North Shore cities and Papakura, Franklin and Rodney districts are being contested.
Whangarei, Rotorua, and Tauranga are among regional centres where all places will be contested.
Dale Ofsoske, the electoral officer for seven areas, including Auckland, Rodney, Papakura and Western Bay of Plenty, said the early arrivals would be officially on the job from noon on Saturday, October 9, when postal voting closed.
He said every election threw up cases of too few candidates to form a quorum, meaning the entity could not exist, so a byelection was needed.
This had happened in Te Puke, where six community board positions garnered just two hopefuls.
However, a byelection cannot be held until after February 10.
"There will not be a Te Puke Community Board until the byelection," said Mr Ofsoske. "That is probably the worst-case scenario."
Walkover hopefuls sweep to power
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