Former Taupo District councillor Rex Mincher says he resigned from the council for family reasons, not because he had no choice.
"It was absolutely my own decision," said Mr Mincher, who until recently had been planning to run for the council and the mayoralty at this year's local government elections. Mr Mincher resigned from council this week.
Last month he was convicted of breaching a protection order and ordered to pay a $500 fine plus court costs.
The Local Government Act says that a member of a local authority vacates office if he or she is convicted of an offence punishable by a jail term of two years or more.
The maximum penalty for a single breach of a protection order is six months' jail.