2025 Christchurch mayoral election
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11 October 2025
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| Turnout | 107,471 (37.81%  6.01pp) | |||||||||||||||
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The 2025 Christchurch mayoral election was a local election held from 9 September to 11 October in Christchurch, New Zealand, as part of that year's city council election and nation-wide local elections. Voters elected the mayor of Christchurch for the 2025–2028 term. Postal voting and the first-past-the-post voting system were used. Incumbent centre-right independent mayor Phil Mauger ran for a second term, with incumbent centre-left independent councillor Sara Templeton as his main challenger; there were six other candidates for the position.
Mauger defeated Templeton and was re-elected.
The timeline of electoral events were:[1]
- Friday, 4 July – Candidate nominations open, roll opens for public inspection
- Friday, 1 August – Nominations close at midday, electoral roll closes
- Friday, 8 August – Candidates announced
- Tuesday, 9 September – Ballots posted out, voting opens
- Saturday, 11 October – Voting closes at midday
- Sunday, 19 October – Final results declared
Background
Campaign
In October 2024, Sara Templeton was the first candidate who announced their candidacy. A city councillor since the 2016 local elections, she would not stand again in the Heathcote ward to focus on the mayoral campaign.[2]
The second person to announce their candidacy was Phil Mauger, the incumbent mayor, in January 2025. He has been a city councillor since the 2019 local elections and mayor since the 2022 elections.[3] Mauger had campaigned on a 4 percent rates cap in 2022, but presided over a 9.9 percent rise in the 2024–25 financial year. To lower rates rises, he proposes asset sales.[4]
List of candidates
| Candidate[5] | Photo | Affiliation[a] | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blair Anderson | .jpg) |
None | Has run for council five times. Previously ran for the mayoralty in 2019.[7] | |
| Philip Arps | Independant Nationalist New Zealand | White supremacist who was convicted for sharing footage of the Christchurch mosque shootings.[8][9][7] | ||
| Tubby Hansen | .jpg) |
Economic Euthenics | Perennial candidate since 1969.[10][9][7] Also ran as a councillor in the Spreydon ward. | |
| Thomas Healey | Independent | [9][7] | ||
| Phil Mauger | .jpg) |
Let's Get More Stuff Done | Incumbent mayor since 2022[11][12][13][7] | |
| Nikora Nitro | Independent | Former member of the Mana Party. Criminally convicted in 2012 for soliciting sex from a teenager.[14] Previously ran for the mayoralty in 2022.[15][9][7] | ||
| Sara Templeton | .jpg) |
Our City. Our People. Our Future. | Councillor for the Heathcote ward since 2016[11][12][7] | |
| Peter Wakeman | Independent | Retired businessman. Standing for the mayoralty for the seventh time.[9][7] Also ran for the Auckland mayoralty.[16] | ||
