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2022 Wellington mayoral election

New Zealand local election From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 2022 Wellington mayoral election was a local election held from 16 September to 8 October in Wellington, New Zealand, as part of that year's city council election and nation-wide local elections. Voters elected the mayor of Wellington for the 2022–2025 term of the Wellington City Council. Postal voting and the single transferable vote system was used.

Quick facts Turnout, Candidate ...
2022 Wellington mayoral election
← 2019
8 October 2022
2025 →
Turnout72,025 (43.27%)
 
Candidate Tory Whanau Andy Foster Paul Eagle
Party Independent Independent Independent
Primary vote 30,656 11,835 11,935
Percentage 42.56% 16.43% 16.57%
Final count 34,462 16,711 14,589
Percentage 52.40% 25.41% 22.18%
Mayor before election

Andy Foster

 Elected mayor

Tory Whanau

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Tory Whanau, an independent that was endorsed by the Green Party, won in the seventh iteration, defeating the incumbent Andy Foster and Labour-endorsed independent Paul Eagle in a landslide.

Key dates

Background

Andy Foster was first elected to Wellington City Council in the 1992 elections, and served continuously until he was elected mayor in the 2019 election.[1] Despite Foster's centre-right position, a majority centre-left council was elected in the 2019 local elections.[2]

Infighting amongst the council was reported in February 2021, after councillor Fleur Fitzsimons reported Foster to the Auditor-General over his proposal to privatise the city's main library; she said there was decision-making and governance inconsistent with the Local Government Act 2002.[3]

Shortly afterwards, Foster announced an independent review of the council's governance.[4] The review found issues with the council including with its governance structure, direction and oversight, that some council staff felt unsafe in giving free and frank advice.[5]

Electoral system

The mayor is elected at large using the single transferable vote system.[6] Under the Local Government Act 2002, candidates were allowed to spend up to $60,000 on the campaign.[7]

Campaign

Paul Eagle

Eagle announced his campaign and his endorsement by the Labour Party on 26 June 2022.[8][9] Eagle ran on a "back to basics" platform, focusing on repairing city infrastructure.[10] He took leave as an MP from 8 July to campaign,[9] and donated to charity his salary for that period.[11] Eagle spent $57,733 on his campaign.[7]

Andy Foster

Foster announced his intention to seek re-election on 7 July 2022 on Newstalk ZB.[12] He spent $54,108, including $17,000 on billboards.[7]

Tory Whanau

Whanau announced her entry into the race on 18 November 2021,[13] and was endorsed by the Green Party in April 2022.[14] She formally launched her campaign on 30 June 2022.[15] Georgina Campbell of The New Zealand Herald wrote that Whanau's early announcement helped her to overcome low name recognition. Whanau utilised street-level posters around the city to advertise.[10] Whanau spent $59,844, which included $23,000 on street-level posters and $15,000 on digital billboards.[7]

Issues and positions

In May 2022, The Dominion Post reporter Tom Hunt identified the top election issues as public safety, commercial vibrancy, housing affordability, transport, rates, water infrastructure, climate change and council culture.[16] The council indicated in its pre-election report that the biggest issues facing the city are infrastructure and planning for growth, resilience and adaptability, the economy, funding and resourcing and the changing local government sector.[17][18] A poll of voters by Q+A and Kantar found that water infrastructure was the top issue, followed by climate change adaptation, road maintenance, reducing rates, and public transport investment.[19]

On 18 August, The Dominion Post reported mayoral and council candidate Barbara McKenzie as being an anti-vaxxer, not denying forming part of Voices for Freedom, and avowing support for 6 January U.S. Capitol rioters.[20]

Transport

Let's Get Wellington Moving, a programme of infrastructure works proposed by a consortium of Wellington City Council, Greater Wellington Regional Council and Waka Kotahi, includes a proposed light rail line from the city centre to Island Bay and a second tunnel through Mount Victoria.[21] Eagle, Foster and Whanau all expressed support for the project, however Eagle and Whanau called for a review of the 60:40 funding split between central and local government.[22] Chung stated a preference for bus rapid transit over light rail, and Dudfield stood for a significant modification of the proposal to focus on road traffic.[23]

Whanau supported the completion of the Paneke Pōneke cycleway network, while Eagle opposed it and Foster called for a refocus of how it is being delivered.[24]

Whanau campaigned for extending the pedestrian zone of Cuba Street and trialling the use of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in suburban areas.[15]

Water infrastructure

The Sixth Labour Government of New Zealand is proposing a Three Waters reform programme to centralise water management infrastructure between territorial authorities. Foster cautiously opposed the reforms "as they stand",[25] supporting co-governance but favouring a review into local government and amendments to the Resource Management Act.[26] Eagle and Whanau supported the reform programme.[24][27]

List of candidates

Nine candidates were nominated for the mayoralty.

More information Candidate, Image ...
Candidate[28] Image Affiliation Notes
Ellen Blake Independent Wellington coordinator of Living Streets Aotearoa[29]
Ray Chung Independent founder of the Onslow Residents' Community Association[30]
Chris Dudfield Independent – Vision/Skill/Results Architect[31]
Paul Eagle Independent Labour MP and former deputy mayor, endorsed by the Labour Party[32]
Andy Foster Together for Wellington Incumbent mayor[33]
Kelvin Hastie Future Wellington Founder of Predator Free Wellington
Donald McDonald Our truth all but whole truth Perennial candidate
Barbara McKenzie Independent Founder of the Wellington Significant Natural Areas (SNA) Committee. Anti-vaccination activist.[34][35]
Tory Whanau Independent Former Green Party chief of staff, endorsed by the party for the election.[14][13]
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Declined to be candidates

Debates

More information Date, Organiser(s) ...
Date Organiser(s) Moderator Location Participants
Eagle Foster Whanau
31 August Radio Waatea
Te Upoko o Te Ika[27]		 Shane Te Pou Wharewaka Function Centre Present Present Present
5 September Inner City Wellington[40] Stephen King St Peter's Church Present Present Present
7 September The Dominion Post[24] Anna Fifield Stuff newsroom Present Present Present
8 September The New Zealand Herald
Wellington Chamber of Commerce[41][42]		 Georgina Campbell Rutherford House, Victoria University of Wellington[22] Present Present Present
8 September Aro Valley Community Centre[43] Bryan Crump Lychgate Funeral Home Present Present Present
14 September Arts Wellington[44] Courtney Johnston Te Whaea Present Present Present
15 September The Spinoff[45] Toby Manhire Meow Present Present Present
21 September Morning Report[46] Susie Ferguson Radio New Zealand Present Present Present
24 September Newshub Nation[47] Conor Whitten Newshub Present Present Present
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Polling

More information Date, Polling organisation ...
Date Polling organisation MOE Iteration Ellen Blake Ray Chung Chris Dudfield Kelvin Hastie Paul Eagle Andy Foster Donald McDonald Barbara McKenzie Tory Whanau
31 August – 8 September 2022 Q+A–Kantar[19] ±4.4 First 3 13 2 2 28 20 1 5 26
Last N/a N/a N/a N/a 51 N/a N/a N/a 49
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Results

More information Party, Candidate ...
2022 Wellington City mayoral election[48]
PartyCandidateFPv%Count
1234567
Independent Tory Whanau 42.56 30,656 30,762 31,176 31,330 32,027 32,317 34,462
Together for Wellington Andy Foster 16.43 11,835 11,878 11,987 12,105 12,476 12,916 16,711
Independent Paul Eagle 16.57 11,935 11,974 12,097 12,213 12,519 12,783 14,589
Independent Ray Chung 14.41 10,383 10,436 10,524 10,979 11,285 12,670
Independent – Vision/Skill/Results Chris Dudfield 3.51 2,535 2,553 2,585 2,754 2,960
Future Wellington Kelvin Hastie 2.73 1,971 2,001 2,135 2,208
Independent Barbara McKenzie 1.69 1,224 1,253 1,341
Independent Ellen Blake 1.52 1,101 1,116
Our truth all but whole truth Don McDonald 0.53 385
Valid: 72,025   Spoilt: 103   Quota: 32,881   Turnout: 43.27%  
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Aftermath

Whanau's win saw her become the first Māori mayor of Wellington,[49] and the first person since Mark Blumsky in 1995 to be elected mayor of Wellington without experience as a city councillor.[50] Her win was described as a landslide victory,[51][52][53] and the most decisive since Wellington began using STV in 2004.[54] Eagle's third-place finish was described as an upset.[55]

The 2022 mayoral elections generally saw a swing to the political right, with Whanau's win an exception to that trend.[56] Both of the highest-polling candidates supported expansion of cycleways and mass transit.[57] All candidates agreed on further investment in 'pipes' to improve water infrastructure.[58] Voters preferred candidates whose position on Three Waters reform was of mild opposition (Foster) or supportive.[57] Strong opponents of the reform such as Dudfield[59] polled relatively poorly.

Whanau credited her campaign's success[60] to its mobilisation of voters,[61] and commentators described the election result as a vote for change, and consistent with a desire to 'fix what was going wrong' in water, transport, and housing.[62] Lara Greaves from the University of Auckland stated that Whanau's early declaration of her intention to run for mayor helped to increase her visibility.[63] Eagle conceded that his centrist campaign was the wrong strategy.[64]

References

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