Andrew Geoffrey Watson is the Mayor of Rangitikei District in

Manawatū-Whanganui Manawatū-Whanganui (; spelled Manawatu-Wanganui prior to 2019) is a region in the lower half of the North Island of New Zealand, whose main population centres are the cities of Palmerston North and Whanganui. It is administered by the Manawat ...

, New Zealand. He was elected as

Mayor of Rangitikei The Mayor of Rangitikei is the head of the Rangitikei District Council in New Zealand. The role was created in 1989 with the formation of the Rangitikei District as part of the 1989 local government reforms. The current mayor since 2013 Rangitikei ...

on 12 October 2013, defeating incumbent mayor Chalky Leary. Watson was re-elected in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and 2019.

Political career

Watson began his political career as a councillor for the Marton ward of the

Rangitikei District Council The Rangitikei District Council is the local government in New Zealand, local government authority for Rangitikei District in New Zealand. It is a territorial authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority elected to represent the people of Ra ...

in the 2004 local elections. As a councillor he was chosen as Deputy Mayor by Mayor Bob Buchanan. He served in this role for two terms. With mayor Buchanan departing, in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

Watson challenged for the mayoralty with the other contenders being Chalky Leary, Marilyn Craig, Nick Eddy and three others. Watson came in second place as Leary was elected receiving 1,639 votes or 31.0% of the votes with a majority of 233 votes or 4.4% over Watson. Watson did not challenge for the mayoralty 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 ...

and Leary was elected unopposed. In

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Leary was seeking a third term but his mayoralty was challenged for the first time. Watson entered the race, as well as Fresh Future Focus candidate Maree Brannigan and Taihape ward councillor Richard Aslett. Watson was elected by obtaining 1,983 votes (41.5%) of the total votes and a majority of 486 (10.2%) defeating incumbent mayor Chalky Leary, who received 1,497 votes. As Watson was elected mayor he did not take up his role as Marton ward councillor which went on to the next candidate with the most votes, resulting in the election of Mike Jones. After his election Watson said he was expecting to work closely with Palmerston North mayor

Jono Naylor Jonathan Mark Naylor (born 1966), commonly known as Jono Naylor, is a New Zealand politician from Palmerston North. He was Mayor of Palmerston North from 2007 until 2014, when he was elected to the House of Representatives in the as a list MP ...

and Wanganui mayor

Annette Main Annette Kay Main (born 1951/1952) is a New Zealand local-body politician. She served as mayor of Whanganui from 2010 to 2016, and was the first woman to hold that office. Early life and family Main was born in Castlecliff in Whanganui and attend ...

. In May 2015 Meridian Energy's wind farm

Project Central Wind Project Huriwaka is a proposed wind farm located on the Hihitahi Plateau between Waiouru and Taihape, New Zealand. The project was originally developed and consented by Meridian Energy, but the consents were allowed to lapse. In May 2023 th ...

was granted a five-year consent extension by the Rangitikei District Council led by Watson. This project is a planned 55-turbine farm that would generate electricity for 50,000 New Zealand homes each year. In September 2015 Watson, along with Palmerston North mayor Grant Smith, travelled to Melbourne in an attempt to attract Chinese investment to the district. The two mayors attended the Australasian China Cities business forum in order to attract investment for large-scale assets for local businesses. On 9 June 2016 he announced his intention to seek a second term as Mayor of Rangitikei. He won the

mayoral election Mayoral may refer to: * Mayoral is an adjectival form of mayor * Mayoral, a Spanish Children's Fashion Company * Borja Mayoral (born 1997), Spanish footballer * César Mayoral (born 1947), Argentine diplomat * David Mayoral (born 1997), Spanish f ...

, which took place on 8 October, with a substantial majority. Watson was re-elected as mayor in October 2016, defeating challengers Robert Snijders and George London. Watson received 3,638 votes, 2,938 votes more than his nearest opponent Snijders. He appointed Nigel Belsham as deputy mayor for his second term in office. He was re-elected unopposed in 2019.

Life outside politics

Watson is a businessman and is married. He is from Marton.. He is also the creator of Spookers theme park where he played a role as Old Man Joe.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Andy Deputy mayors of places in New Zealand Living people Mayors of places in Manawatū-Whanganui New Zealand businesspeople People from Marton, New Zealand Year of birth missing (living people)

Political career

Life outside politics

See also

References