The 2022 Wellington local elections were held on 8 October 2022 as part of the wider

2022 New Zealand local elections The 2022 New Zealand local elections were triennial elections held in New Zealand on Saturday 8 October 2022. Voting began by postal vote on 16 September and ended at noon on 8 October 2022. Election schedule Key dates relating to the general ...

to elect members to sub-national councils and boards. The Wellington elections cover one regional council (the

Greater Wellington Regional Council Wellington Regional Council, branded as Greater Wellington Regional Council, is the regional council overseeing the Wellington Region of New Zealand's lower North Island. It is responsible for public transport under the brand Metlink, environ ...

), eight

territorial authorities Territorial authorities are the second tier of local government in New Zealand, below regional councils. There are 67 territorial authorities: 13 city councils, 53 district councils and the Chatham Islands Council. District councils serve a ...

(city and district councils), and various community boards and licensing trusts.

Greater Wellington Regional Council

The

used the

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...

system to elect thirteen regional councillors for the 2022-2025 term.

Kāpiti Coast constituency

The

Kāpiti Coast Kapiti or Kāpiti may refer to: *Kapiti Island, an island a short distance off the New Zealand coast north of Wellington *Kapiti Coast District, the local government district which includes much of the Kapiti Coast *Kapiti Coast Airport, an airport ...

constituency returned one councillor to the regional council. Incumbent candidate

Pōneke/Wellington constituency

The Pōneke/Wellington constituency returned five councillors to the regional council. Incumbent candidate

Porirua-Tawa constituency

The

Porirua Porirua, ( mi, Pari-ā-Rua) a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Porirua' is a corruption of 'Pari-rua', meaning "the tide swee ...

- Tawa constituency returned two councillors to the regional council. Incumbent candidate

Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai/Lower Hutt constituency

The Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai/Lower Hutt constituency returned three councillors to the regional council. Incumbent candidate

Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta/Upper Hutt constituency

The Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta/Upper Hutt constituency returned one councillor to the regional council. Incumbent candidate

Wairarapa constituency

The

Wairarapa The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service ...

constituency returned one councillor to the regional council.

Adrienne Staples Adrienne Staples (born 1956/1957) is a New Zealand local-body politician. She was the first woman Mayor of South Wairarapa, serving in the role for 12 years between 2004 and 2016. Personal life Staples was born in Featherston, New Zealand. ...

was re-elected unopposed.

Wellington City Council

The

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and ...

used the single transferable vote system to elect the

Mayor of Wellington The Mayor of Wellington is the head of the municipal government of the City of Wellington. The mayor presides over the Wellington City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the Single Transferable Vote method of proportional representati ...

and city councillors for the 2022-2025 term. Voter turnout was 43.27%.

Incumbents not seeking re-election

Incumbent

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

councillors Simon Woolf and

Jill Day Yvonne Page, known professionally as Jill Day (5 December 1930 – 16 November 1990) was an English pop singer and actress in Britain in the 1950s and early 1960s. Career She was born in Brighton, Sussex, England, and found fame in film, rad ...

did not run again in the Wharangi/Onslow-Western and Takapū/Northern wards, respectively. Labour councillor Fleur Fitzsimons did not seek re-election in the Paekawakawa/Southern ward.

Mayor

Nine candidates announced that they would run for mayor, including incumbent

Andy Foster Andrew John Whitfield Foster (born 21 December 1961) is a New Zealand politician who served as Mayor of Wellington from 2019 to 2022. Foster served on the Wellington City Council for nine terms from 1992 until 2019. Biography Early life Foste ...

Tory Whanau Tory Awatere Whanau (born 1983) is a New Zealand politician. She was elected mayor of Wellington at the 2022 election. Previously she served as the parliamentary chief of staff for the Green Party. Whanau is the first person of Māori descen ...

was endorsed by the Green Party, and

Paul Eagle Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

was endorsed by the Labour Party. Incumbent candidate

Motukairangi/Eastern General ward

The Motukairangi/Eastern General ward returned three councillors to the city council. Incumbent councillor Sarah Free ran as a Green candidate in previous elections, but announced in December 2021 that she would run as an independent in 2022. Incumbent candidate

Paekawakawa/Southern General ward

The Paekawakawa/Southern General ward returned two councillors to the city council. Incumbent candidate

Pukehīnau/Lambton General ward

The Pukehīnau/Lambton General ward returned three councillors to the city council. Incumbent Green Party councillor since 2007 Iona Pannett, who received the most votes in Pukehīnau Lambton Ward in 2019, was not reselected by the Green Party in April 2022, and ran as an independent. Incumbent councillor

Tamatha Paul Tamatha-Kaye Erin Paul (born 1997) is a New Zealand activist and politician who currently serves in the Wellington City Council for the Pukehīnau Lambton Ward. In 2018 she was the first female Māori to be elected President of the Victoria Univ ...

was elected as an independent in 2019, but in May 2022 announced she would seek the Green nomination, which she received in June. Incumbent candidate

Takapū/Northern General ward

The Takapū/Northern General ward returned three councillors to the city council. Incumbent candidate

Wharangi/Onslow-Western General ward

The Wharangi/Onslow-Western General ward returned three councillors to the city council. Incumbent candidate

Te Whanganui-a-Tara Māori ward

Te Whanganui a Tara is a

Māori ward Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

created by Wellington City Council in 2021. The 2022 election returned Nīkau Wi-Neera as its first-ever councillor.

Overall Wellington City Council results

Following the 2022 Wellington local election, councillors affiliated with the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

and

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

parties gained control over the three major committees in the

. Following a month of negotiations and restructuring,

had reduced the number of full council committees from five to three. Labour councillor

Rebecca Matthews Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...

began chair of the committee in charge of long term-planning, finance and performance. Labour councillors Teri O'Neill and Nureddin Abdurahman became the chair and deputy chair social, cultural, and economic council committee. In addition, Green councillor Tamatha Paul became chair of the new environment and infrastructure committee.

Other local elections

Depending on where in Wellington they lived, voters also voted in concurrent local elections for the: * Tawa Community Board; *

Mākara Mākara is a locality located at the western edge of Wellington, New Zealand, close to the shore of the Tasman Sea. The suburb is named after the Mākara Stream (''mā'' is Māori for white, ''kara'' is a kind of greywacke stone). The Wellington ...

/ Ōhāriu Community Board; and/or *Hutt Mana Charitable Trust (in the northern Wellington suburbs of Johnsonville,

Newlands Newlands may refer to: Places Australia * Newlands, Queensland, a locality in the Whitsunday Region New Zealand * Newlands, Wellington, a suburb of Wellington South Africa * Newlands, Cape Town, a suburb of Cape Town * Newlands, Johannesbur ...

Broadmeadows Broadmeadows is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Hume Local government areas of Victoria, local ...

and Tawa).

Porirua City Council

The

Porirua City Council Porirua, ( mi, Pari-ā-Rua) a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area. T ...

established boundaries for three new wards, two general wards and one Māori ward, to be contested for the first time in the 2022 local elections. The Porirua City Council used the single transferable vote system to elect the

Mayor of Porirua The Mayor of Porirua is the head of the municipal government of Porirua, New Zealand, and presides over the Porirua City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the single transferable vote, single transferable vote electoral system. There h ...

and city councillors for the 2022-2025 term. The positions of mayor and ten city councillors were contested by the following candidates:

Mayor

Incumbent candidate

Onepoto general ward

The Onepoto ward returned five councillors to the city council. Incumbent candidate

Pāuatahanui general ward

The

Pāuatahanui Pāuatahanui (; ) is a village in New Zealand's North Island. It is at the far eastern end of what was known as the Pāuatahanui Inlet (since renamed to Te Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour), an arm of the Porirua Harbour, northeast of Wellington. In loc ...

ward returned four councillors to the city council. Incumbent candidate

Parirua Māori ward

The Parirua Māori ward returned one councillor to the city council. Incumbent candidate

Other local elections

Porirua voters also voted in concurrent local elections for the Hutt Mana Charitable Trust.

Hutt City Council

Each ward of the

Hutt City Council The Hutt City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the city of Lower Hutt. Lower Hutt is the country's seventh largest city. The city borders Porirua to the north, Upper Hutt to the northeast, South Wairarapa District to ...

returned one councillor to the city council, with six further councillors elected

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

. The Hutt City Council used the

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

system to elect the

Mayor of Lower Hutt The city of Lower Hutt, New Zealand, was first proclaimed a borough on 1 February 1891. Prior to this it had been part of Hutt County, initially as a Roads Board and from 1881 as a Town Board. Since 2019, the mayor has been Campbell Barry. Li ...

and city councillors for the 2022-2025 term. Voter turnout was 40.24%. The positions of mayor and twelve city councillors were contested by the following candidates:

Mayor

Two candidates unsuccessfully challenged the incumbent Campbell Barry for the mayoralty of Lower Hutt. Incumbent candidate

Central Ward

There was one vacancy for the Central ward. Incumbent candidate

Eastern Ward

There was one vacancy for the Eastern ward. Incumbent candidate

Harbour Ward

There was one vacancy for the Harbour ward. Incumbent candidate

Northern Ward

There was one vacancy for the Northern ward. Incumbent candidate

Wainuiomata Ward

There was one vacancy for the

Wainuiomata Wainuiomata () is a large suburb of Lower Hutt, in the Wellington Region of New Zealand's North Island. Origin of name The word 'Wainui-o-mata' is a Māori name made up of the words Wai = water, Nui = big, O = of, and Mata – which could refer ...

ward. Incumbent candidate

Western Ward

There was one vacancy for the Western ward.

Council at-large

There were six vacancies for citywide (at-large) councillors. Incumbent candidate

Electoral system referendum

In 2021 the Hutt City Council resolved to conduct a referendum for which

electoral system An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and Referendum, referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political ...

to use in the 2025 and 2028 local elections. The referendum asked voters to choose between the First Past the Post and Single Transferable Voting electoral systems.

Other local elections

Depending on where in Lower Hutt they lived, voters also voted in concurrent local elections for the: *

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

Community Board; *

Petone Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach". Europeans first settled in Pe ...

Community Board; *

Community Board; and/or *Hutt Mana Charitable Trust.

Upper Hutt City Council

The

Upper Hutt City Council Upper Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. Geography The Upper Hutt city centre lies approximately 26 km north-e ...

used the first-past-the-post system to elect the

Mayor of Upper Hutt The Mayor of Upper Hutt is the head of the municipal government of Upper Hutt, New Zealand, and presides over the Upper Hutt City Council. The mayor is directly elected using a First Past the Post electoral system. The Upper Hutt Town Board had s ...

and city councillors for the 2022-2025 term. Voter turnout was 43.15%. The positions of mayor and ten city councillors elected at-large were contested by the following candidates:

Mayor

There was one vacancy for the mayoralty of Upper Hutt. The incumbent since

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

has been Wayne Guppy. Incumbent candidate

Council at-large

There were ten vacancies for the Upper Hutt City Council, elected at-large. Incumbent candidate

Other local elections

Upper Hutt voters also voted in concurrent local elections for the: *Hutt Mana Charitable Trust; and *Rimutaka Licensing Trust.

Kapiti Coast District Council

The

Kapiti Coast District Council The Kapiti Coast District is a local government district of the Wellington Region in the lower North Island of New Zealand, 50 km north of Wellington City. The district is named after Kapiti Island, a prominent island offshore. The popu ...

used the single transferable vote system to elect the

Mayor of Kapiti Coast The Mayor of Kapiti Coast officiates over the Kapiti Coast District of New Zealand's North Island. Janet Holborow is the current mayor of Kapiti Coast. She was elected to the position in 2022. List of mayors Since its inception in 1989, Kapiti ...

and district councillors for the 2022-2025 term. The positions of mayor and ten district councillors were contested by the following candidates:

Mayor

Incumbent mayor K Gurunathan chose not to stand for re-election.

Ōtaki Ward

The Ōtaki ward returned one councillor to the district council.

Waikanae Ward

The

Waikanae Waikanae (, ) is a town on the Kapiti Coast, 60 kilometres north of the Wellington CBD. The name is a Māori word meaning "waters" (''wai'') "of the grey mullet". The town lies between Paraparaumu, eight kilometres to the southwest, and Ōtak ...

ward returned two councillors to the district council. Incumbent candidate

Paraparaumu Ward

The

Paraparaumu Paraparaumu () is a town in the south-western North Island of New Zealand. It lies on the Kapiti Coast, north of the nation's capital city, Wellington. Like other towns in the area, it has a partner settlement at the coast called Paraparaumu Bea ...

ward returned three councillors to the district council. Incumbent candidate

Paekākāriki–Raumati Ward

The

Paekākāriki Paekākāriki () is a town in the Kapiti Coast District in the south-western North Island, New Zealand, and one of the northernmost suburbs of Wellington. It lies north of Porirua and northeast of the Wellington CBD. The town's name comes from ...

–

Raumati Raumati is a New Zealand place name and may refer to: *Raumati Beach, Kapiti Coast, New Zealand *Raumati South, Kapiti Coast, New Zealand * Raumati Hearts, a former name of Kapiti Coast United, a New Zealand association football club * Raumati rail ...

ward returned one councillor to the district council. Incumbent candidate

Council at-large

Three councillors were returned to the district council by the district at-large, from a field of nine candidates. Incumbent candidate

Other local elections

Depending on where in the Kapiti Coast District they lived, voters also voted in concurrent local elections for the: *Ōtaki Community Board; *Paekākāriki Community Board; *Paraparaumu Community Board; *Raumati Community Board (newly created); or *Waikanae Community Board.

Masterton District Council

In May 2021 the

Masterton District Council Masterton ( mi, Whakaoriori), a large town in the Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand, operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a r ...

voted to establish a Māori ward for the council, and as part of their representation review reduced the number of councillors from ten to eight. The Masterton District Council used the first-past-the-post system to elect the

Mayor of Masterton The Mayor of Masterton is the head of the municipal government of Masterton, New Zealand, and presides over the Masterton District Council. The Mayor is directly elected using First Past the Post.The Mayor is assisted by the Deputy Mayor of Maste ...

and district councillors for the 2022-2025 term. Voter turnout was 46.68%. The positions of mayor and eight district councillors were contested by the following candidates:

Mayor

Incumbent mayor Lyn Patterson chose not to stand for re-election.

Masterton/Whakaoriori general ward

The Masterton/Whakaoriori general ward returned four councillors to the district council. Withdrawn due to being elected as mayor
Incumbent candidate

Masterton/Whakaoriori Māori ward

The Masterton/Whakaoriori Māori ward returned one councillor to the district council. Marama Tuuta was elected unopposed.

Council at-large

Three councillors were returned to the district council by the district at-large. Incumbent candidate

Other local elections

Masterton voters also be voted in concurrent local elections for the: *Masterton Community Trust; *Masterton Trust Lands Trust; and *Montfort Trimble Foundation.

Carterton District Council

The

Carterton District Council Carterton ( mi, Taratahi) is a small town in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and the seat of the Carterton District (a territorial authority or local government district). It lies in a farming area of the Wairarapa in New Zealand's North Isl ...

used the first-past-the-post system to elect the

Mayor of Carterton The Mayor of Carterton is the mayor of the Carterton District, which is administered by Carterton District Council, and earlier the office oversaw the Carterton Borough from 1887 until 1989, when Carterton Borough and Wairarapa South County were ...

and district councillors for the 2022-2025 term. Voter turnout was 59.06%. The positions of mayor and eight district councillors elected at-large were contested by the following candidates:

Mayor

There was one vacancy for the mayoralty of Carterton. The incumbent Greg Lang stood for re-election, with

Ron Mark Ron Stanley Mark (born 29 January 1954) is a New Zealand politician of the New Zealand First party, and former soldier, who served as Minister of Defence between October 2017 and November 2020. He served as mayor of Carterton from 2010 to 2014, ...

, former Carterton mayor (2010–2014) and

New Zealand First New Zealand First ( mi, Aotearoa Tuatahi), commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a nationalist and populist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Winst ...

MP (1996–2008 and 2014–2020), standing against him. Incumbent candidate

Council at-large

Incumbent candidate

South Wairarapa District Council

The

South Wairarapa District Council The South Wairarapa District is a district at the south-east tip of the North Island of New Zealand, governed by the South Wairarapa District Council. The district comprises the southernmost part of the Wairarapa, and is part of the Wellington Re ...

used the first-past-the-post system to elect the

Mayor of South Wairarapa The Mayor of South Wairarapa is the head of municipal government for South Wairarapa District of New Zealand, which is administered by a district council. The office has existed since the 1989 local government reforms The 1989 New Zealand loc ...

and district councillors for the 2022-2025 term. The positions of mayor and nine district councillors were contested by the following candidates:

Mayor

There was one vacancy for the mayoralty of South Wairarapa. Incumbent mayor Alex Beijen stood for re-election. Incumbent candidate

Featherston ward

The

Featherston Featherston is a surname of English origin, at least as old as the 12th century. The link with "Featherstone" is probably not traceable, but people researching both spellings (and others such as "de Fetherestanhalgh") contribute to the collection o ...

ward returned three councillors to the district council. Incumbent candidate

Greytown ward

The Greytown ward returned three councillors to the district council. Incumbent candidate

Martinborough ward

The

Martinborough Martinborough ( mi, Wharekaka) is a town in the South Wairarapa District, in the Wellington region of New Zealand. It is 65 kilometres east of Wellington and 35 kilometres south-west of Masterton. The town has a resident population of The town ...

ward returned three councillors to the district council. Incumbent candidate

Other local elections

Depending on where in the South Wairarapa District they lived, voters also voted in concurrent local elections for the: *Featherston Community Board; *Greytown Community Board; *Martinborough Community Board; and/or *Greytown District Trust Lands Trust.

References

{{reflist

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

Politics of the Wellington Region

2020s in Wellington