The Mayor of Chatham Islands is the head of the

municipal government A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

of the

Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ) (Moriori: ''Rēkohu'', 'Misty Sun'; mi, Wharekauri) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island. They are administered as part of New Zealand. The archipelago consists of about te ...

, New Zealand, and presides over the Chatham Islands Council. Patrick Smith served as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of the Chatham Islands from 1992 until his retirement in 2010. Smith was succeeded by deputy mayor Alfred Preece, who acted as mayor until he was elected to the position in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. Preece had initially been invited to run for council by Mayor Smith. He is the son of Alfred "Bunty" Preece QSO, a former chairman of the Chatham Islands County Council. Monique Croon is the current mayor of the Chatham Islands. She was first elected in the 2019 local elections.

List of mayors

List of deputy mayors

Mayoral elections

Mayoral elections take place in the Chatham Islands every 3 years, as part of the wider local elections in New Zealand. Under section 10 of the Local Electoral Act 2001, a "general election of members of every local authority or community board must be held on the second Saturday in October in every third year" from the date the Act came into effect in 2001.

2001 Chatham Islands mayoral election

This was the first election held following the Local Electoral Act 2001. Patrick Smith won re-election, retaining the mayoralty.

2004 Chatham Islands mayoral election

This election was held using 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 ...

(STV) system.https://www.horizons.govt.nz/HRC/media/Media/Agenda-Reports/Regional-Council-Meeting-2014-27-05/1494AnnexA.pdf Once again, Patrick Smith won re-election.

2007 Chatham Islands mayoral election

The Chatham Islands retained the STV system used in the prior election. Patrick Smith won re-election.

2010 Chatham Islands mayoral election

For this election, the Chatham Islands Council abolished STV and adopted

first-past-the-post voting 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 ...

. On 31 January 2010, Patrick Smith resigned from the mayoralty, and was immediately succeeded as acting mayor by his deputy, Alfred Preece. Preece ran for the 2010 election and retained the mayoralty on 9 October, defeating challenger Joseph Tapara.

2013 Chatham Islands mayoral election

Tapara unsuccessfully tried to oust Preece a second time in October 2013, only to be defeated by an even wider margin.

2016 Chatham Islands mayoral election

Preece won re-election.

2019 Chatham Islands mayoral election

Alfred Preece did not run for the 2019 mayoral election, allowing Monique Croon to take the mayoralty.

2022 Chatham Islands mayoral election

Croon successfully ran for re-election. Although the election was officially non-partisan, it was analysed within the wider context of polarized public opinion regarding the

Sixth Labour Government The Sixth Labour Government has governed New Zealand since 26 October 2017. It is headed by Jacinda Ardern, the Labour Party leader and prime minister. Following the 2017 general election held on 23 September, the New Zealand First party h ...

Three Waters reform programme The Water Services Reform Programme (formerly known as Three Waters) is a public infrastructure restructuring programme launched by the Sixth Labour Government to centralise the management of water supply and sanitation in New Zealand. It orig ...

. Croon was one of three elected mayors to strongly support Three Waters (in contrast, 6 mayors gave it soft support, 14 were on the fence, 30 gave it soft opposition and 13 gave it strong opposition). After her election victory, Croon gave an interview on Te Ao Māori News.

References

{{Mayors in New Zealand

Politics of Canterbury, New Zealand Chatham Islands