2025 Invercargill City Council election
Elections in New Zealand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2025 Invercargill City Council election was a local election held from 9 September to 11 October in Invercargill, New Zealand, as part of that year's territorial authority elections and other local elections held nation-wide.
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11 October 2025
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Mayoral election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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12 seats on the Invercargill City Council 7 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Voters elected the mayor of Invercargill, 12 city councillors, and other local representatives for the 2025–2028 term of the Invercargill City Council. Postal voting and the first-past-the-post voting system were used.
Tom Campbell, councillor and deputy mayor since 2022, was elected to the mayoralty, replacing retiring mayor Nobby Clark.
Key dates
- 4 July 2025: Nominations for candidates opened
- 1 August 2025: Nominations for candidates closed at 12 pm
- 9 September 2025: Voting documents were posted and voting opened
- 11 October 2025: Voting closed at 12 pm and progress results were published later that day
- 11–12 October 2025: Preliminary results released[1]
- 16–19 October 2025: Final results were declared.[2][3]
Background
Positions up for election
Voters in the city elected the mayor of Invercargill, 12 city councillors at-large, the members of the Bluff Community Board, and the members of the Invercargill Licensing Trust.[4] They also elected six members of Environment Southland.[3]
Campaign
Debates
A mayoral candidates debate hosted by broadcaster Duncan Garner was held at the Ascot Park Hotel. Candidates participating in the debate included Alex Crackett, Ian Pottinger, Ria Bond, Tom Campbell, Steve Chernishov, Tom Morton, and Andrew Clark. The debate covered a range of topics including boosting the local economy and infrastructure. Mayoral candidate Gordon McCrone was excluded by the organiser due to his connection to a controversial website.[5]
List of candidates
Incumbents not seeking re-election
- Nobby Clark, mayor since 2022[6][7]
- Peter Kett, councillor[8]
- Lesley Soper, councillor since 2016[8]
Mayor
| Candidate[9] | Affiliation[a] | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ria Bond | Independent | Councillor since 2022.[11] Also ran for re-election as a councillor.[12][7] | |
| Tom Campbell | None | Deputy mayor since 2022[6][13][11] | |
| Stevey Chernishov | None | Brand developer. Previously ran for mayor in 2022.[14][15] | |
| Andrew Clark | None | Brother of incumbent mayor Nobby Clark. Also ran for mayor in the Tasman District under the name Maxwell Clark.[16][17] | |
| Alex Crackett | Independent | Councillor since 2016.[18][13][6] Also ran for re-election as a councillor. | |
| Gordon McCrone | Advanced Task Force Political Party | [19] | |
| Tom Morton | Independent | Previously ran for mayor in 2022.[20] Also ran for council.[12] | |
| Ian Pottinger | None | Councillor since 2010.[6][13] Also ran for council. | |
Withdrawn
Council
Twelve councillors were elected at-large to the city council.[4]
| Candidate[9] | Affiliation[a] | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allan Arnold | None | Incumbent councillor since 2016[24][11] | |
| Ria Bond | Independent | Incumbent councillor since 2022.[11] Also ran for mayor.[12] | |
| Trish Boyle | Integrity, Independence | Incumbent councillor since 2022[8][11] | |
| Steve Broad | None | Incumbent councillor since 2023[8][11] | |
| Jay Coote | Independent | ||
| Pania Coote | Consumer Advocate | Incumbent mana whenua representative for Te Rūnanga o Awarua[25][26] | |
| Alex Crackett | Independent | Incumbent councillor.[11] Also ran for mayor. | |
| Chris Dawson | None | ||
| Grant Dermody | None | Incumbent councillor since 2022[8][11] | |
| Andrea de Vries | None | ||
| Carl Heenan | None | Previously ran in the 2023 council by-election[27] | |
| Karl Herman | None | Previously ran for council in 2022[28] | |
| Carol (CJ) Jasperse | None | ||
| Terry King | Advocate and Lobbyist for Invercargill | ||
| Amanda Laurie | None | ||
| Darren Ludlow | None | Incumbent councillor[8][11] | |
| Marcus Lush | None | Broadcaster and former councillor (2021–2022)[29] | |
| Lynley McKerrow | None | Former Invercargill town crier[23] | |
| David Meades | Independent | Previously ran in the 2023 council by-election[27] | |
| Tom Morton | Independent | Also ran for mayor | |
| Dan O'Connell | None | ||
| Noel Peterson | Independent- Serving Community | Previously ran for council in 2022[30] | |
| Ian Pottinger | None | Incumbent councillor since 2010.[11] Also ran for mayor. | |
| Ian Reeves | None | Previously ran in the 2023 council by-election[27] | |
| Barry Stewart | None | Incumbent councillor[8][11] | |
| Lisa Tou-McNaughton | Positivity, Partnership and Progress | Previously ran in the 2023 council by-election[27] | |
| Tony van der Lem | None | ||
Results
Mayor
| Affiliation | Candidate | Vote | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Tom Campbell | 6,948 | 38.61 | |
| Independent | Alex Crackett | 5,202 | 28.91 | |
| Independent | Ian Pottinger | 2,322 | 12.90 | |
| Independent | Ria Bond | 1,803 | 10.02 | |
| Independent | Tom Morton | 711 | 3.95 | |
| Independent | Andrew Clark | 291 | 1.62 | |
| Independent | Stevey Chernishov | 229 | 1.27 | |
| Independent | Gordon McCrone | 66 | 0.37 | |
| Informal | 75 | 0.42 | ||
| Blank | 349 | 1.94 | ||
| Turnout | 17,996 | |||
| Registered | ||||
| Independent gain from LETS GO Invercargill | ||||
Council
| Affiliation | Candidate | Vote | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Steve Broad† | 11,503 | ||
| Independent | Alex Crackett† | 10,056 | ||
| Independent | Marcus Lush | 8,396 | ||
| Independent | Grant Dermody† | 8,321 | ||
| Independent | Trish Boyle† | 7,457 | ||
| Independent | Ria Bond† | 7,373 | ||
| Independent | Darren Ludlow† | 7,371 | ||
| Independent | Ian Pottinger† | 7,195 | ||
| Independent | Allan Arnold† | 6,105 | ||
| Independent | Andrea de Vries | 5,920 | ||
| Independent | Lisa Tou McNoughton | 5,816 | ||
| Independent | Barry Stewart† | 5,710 | ||
| Independent | Ian Reeves | 5,689 | ||
| Independent | Lynley McKerrow | 5,608 | ||
| Independent | David Meades | 5,414 | ||
| Independent | Karl Herman | 4,788 | ||
| Independent | Terry King | 4,691 | ||
| Independent | Chris Dawson | 4,510 | ||
| Independent | Jay Coote | 4,137 | ||
| Independent | Pania Coote | 3,904 | ||
| Independent | Tony van der Lem | 3,749 | ||
| Independent | Tom Morton | 3,268 | ||
| Independent | Carl Heenan | 2,979 | ||
| Independent | Dan O'Connell | 2,320 | ||
| Independent | Amanda Laurie | 2,128 | ||
| Independent | Noel Peterson | 1,301 | ||
| Independent | Carol Jasperse | 1,005 | ||
| Informal | 51 | |||
| Blank | 132 | |||
| Turnout | ||||
| Registered | ||||
| Independent hold | ||||
| Independent hold | ||||
| Independent gain from LETS GO Invercargill | ||||
| Independent gain from LETS GO Invercargill[b] | ||||
| Independent hold | ||||
| Independent hold | ||||
| Independent hold | ||||
| Independent hold | ||||
| Independent gain from LETS GO Invercargill[b] | ||||
| Independent gain from Independent | ||||
| Independent gain from Independent | ||||
| Independent gain from LETS GO Invercargill[b] | ||||
| † incumbent | ||||
Notes
- A candidate may leave their affiliation blank, run as an independent, or run with an affiliation to an organisation, local body ticket or political party. Invercargill City Council does not allow whānau, hapū, or iwi details to be used for the affiliation.[10]
- Incumbent changed affiliation.