2025 Environment Southland election
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The 2025 Environment Southland election was a local election held between 9 September and 11 October 2025 in the Southland Region of New Zealand, as part of that year's regional council elections and other local elections held nation-wide.
11 October 2025
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12 seats of Environment Southland 7 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. | |||||||||
Voters elected 12 regional councillors for the 2025–2028 term of Environment Southland (the Southland Regional Council). Postal voting and first-past-the-post voting were used.[1]
Key dates
- 4 July 2025: Nominations for candidates opened.[1]
- 1 August 2025: Nominations for candidates closed at 12pm.[1] Updates to the preliminary electoral roll closed at 5pm.[1]
- 9 September 2025: Voting documents were posted and voting opened.[2]
- 11 October 2025: Voting closed at 12pm and preliminary results released.[2]
- 16-22 October 2025: Declaration of final results.[2]
- October/November 2025: Swearing-in ceremonies for elected members.[2]
Background
Local body elections are held in New Zealand every three years. The last Southland Regional Council election was held in 2022, with 18 nominations for 12 vacancies. Elections were held in all but one ward.[3]
By 1 August 2025, Environment Southland had received 18 nominations for 12 positions. Since the five candidates for the Fiordland, Eastern-Dome, Western and Southern regional constituencies are standing unopposed, elections will only be required for the Hokonui and Invercargill-Rakiura constituencies.[4][5][6]
Other local body elections were also held for the Invercargill City Council, the Gore District Council, the Southland District Council, the Invercargill Licensing Trust and the Mataura Licensing Trust.[5]
List of candidates
Incumbents not seeking re-election
- Environment Southland chairman Cr Nicol Horrell of the Western regional constituency confirmed on 1 August 2025 that they would not be seeking re-election.[7][8]
- Cr Neville Cooke of the Invercargill-Rakiura regional constituency.[7][8]
- Cr Robert Guyton of the Invercargill-Rakiura regional constituency.[7][8]
Councillors
Fiordland constituency
The Fiordland constituency returned one councillor to the regional council.[9]
| Candidate[4][10] | Affiliation[a] | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Evans | Independent | Incumbent councillor[8][6] | |
As the only candidate, Evans was re-elected unopposed.[12]
Eastern-Dome constituency
The Eastern-Dome constituency returned two councillors to the regional council.[9]
As the number of candidates did not exceed the number of positions available, Gibson and McPhail were re-elected unopposed.[12]
Western constituency
The Western constituency returned one councillor to the regional council.[9]
As the only candidate, Mathieson was re-elected unopposed.[12]
Hokonui constituency
The Hokonui constituency returned one councillor to the regional council.[9]
| Candidate[4][10] | Affiliation[a] | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter McDonald | None | Incumbent councillor[6][8] | |
| David Rose | None | Farmer and former President of the Southland chapter of Federated Farmers[14] | |
Southern constituency
The Southern constituency returned one councillor to the regional council.[9]
As the only candidate, Pemberton was re-elected unopposed.[12]
Invercargill-Rakiura constituency
The Invercargill-Rakiura constituency returned six councillors to the regional council.[9]
| Candidate[4][10] | Affiliation[a] | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joshua Cumberland | None | River engineer[7][6] | |
| Roger Hodson | Independent | Environmental scientist and member of the Southland Conservation Board (2024–2027 term)[15] | |
| Lyndal Ludlow | Independent | High School Relief Teacher, Incumbent councillor[8][6] | |
| Phil Morrison | Independent | Incumbent councillor and Southland Regional Climate Change Working Group co-chairman[16][8] | |
| Nick Perham | None | WorkSafe New Zealand safety assessor, former Southland District Councillor and unsuccessful National Party candidate for the Southland electorate[17] | |
| Maurice Rodway | None | Incumbent councillor[8][6] | |
| Eric Roy | None | Incumbent councillor and former National Party Member of Parliament for Awarua and Invercargill.[8][18][6] | |
| Nathan Surendran | Honesty, Responsibility, Resilience | Entrepreneur, tertiary tutor and 2019 Southland Regional Council election candidate[19] | |
| Roy Te Maiharoa | None | Tutor and instructor at the Southern Institute of Technology. He also contested the 2023 Invercargill City Council by-election.[20] | |
| Annette Trent | Independent | Agriculturalist and chair of the Southern Farmers Market[21] | |
| Geoffrey Young | None | Unsuccessful 2022 Southland District mayoral candidate,[22] famer and southern South Island director for the farming lobby group Beef + Lamb New Zealand.[23] | |
Results
Twelve councillors were elected to Environment Southland across six constituencies.[24]
Fiordland constituency
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Paul Evans† | Unopposed | ||
| Registered | ||||
| Independent hold | ||||
| † incumbent | ||||
Eastern-Dome constituency
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Alastair Gibson† | Unopposed | ||
| Independent | Jeremy McPhail† | Unopposed | ||
| Registered | ||||
| Independent hold | ||||
| Independent hold | ||||
| † incumbent | ||||
Western constituency
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Ewen Mathieson | Unopposed | |
| Registered | |||
| Independent gain from Independent | |||
Hokonui constituency
| Affiliation | Candidate | Vote | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | David Rose | 1,378 | 52.38 | |
| Independent | Peter McDonald† | 1,142 | 43.40 | |
| Informal | 2 | |||
| Blank | 109 | |||
| Turnout | 2,631 | |||
| Registered | ||||
| Independent gain from Independent | ||||
| † incumbent | ||||
Southern constituency
| Affiliation | Candidate | Vote | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Jon Pemberton† | Unopposed | ||
| Registered | ||||
| Independent hold | ||||
| † incumbent | ||||
Invercargill constituency
| Affiliation | Candidate | Vote | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Eric Roy† | 8,658 | ||
| Independent | Lyndal Ludlow† | 7,883 | ||
| Independent | Maurice Rodway† | 7,096 | ||
| Independent | Roger Hodson | 5,921 | ||
| Independent | Geoffrey Young | 5,469 | ||
| Independent | Phil Morrison† | 5,354 | ||
| Independent | Joshua Cumberland | 5,316 | ||
| Independent | Nathan Surendran | 5,295 | ||
| Independent | Annette Trent | 4,923 | ||
| Independent | Rob Te Maiharoao | 4,686 | ||
| Independent | Nick Perham | 3,782 | ||
| Informal | 9 | |||
| Blank | 1,953 | |||
| Turnout | 18,163 | |||
| Registered | ||||
| Independent hold | ||||
| Independent hold | ||||
| Independent hold | ||||
| Independent gain from Independent | ||||
| Independent gain from Independent | ||||
| Independent hold | ||||
| † incumbent | ||||