1986 Christchurch City Council election
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11 October 1986
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All 19 seats on the City Council 10 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||
The 1986 Christchurch City Council election was a local election held from September to 11 October in Christchurch, New Zealand, as part of that year's nation-wide local elections. Voters elected the mayor of Christchurch and 19 city councillors for the 1986–1989 term of the Christchurch City Council. The first-past-the-post voting system was used. Postal voting was used for the first time in Christchurch, and as with councils that had introduced this method earlier, it increased the turnout.
Waimairi District had introduced postal voting in the 1983 local elections and had a good experience. The cost of running an election had decreased, and voter turnout increased. With the remaining local bodies introducing postal voting, including Christchurch City, the metropolitan Christchurch area now all used the postal voting system. One consequence of the change was that on polling day, the votes had to be with the returning officer by noon, whereas the polling booths had previously been open until 7 pm. Voters received their polling documents from 26 September onwards.[1]
Residents were asked to contact the electoral officer if they had not received their voting forms by 2 October.[1] Voters had until 10:30 am on Friday, 10 October, to have their envelope in a mailbox for it to delivered to the returning officer by the next day.[2]
Christchurch City Council administered the election with 40 temporary staff to compile and send out the voting documents, increasing to 240 staff needed on election for counting.[3]
Mayoral election
Sitting Mayor Hamish Hay was re-elected for a fifth term with a decreased majority, defeating councillor Alex Clark of the Labour Party, who had likewise lost to Hay in 1977.[4]
