2025 Queenstown-Lakes District Council election

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2025 Queenstown-Lakes District Council election
← 2022
11 October 2025
2028 →
Mayoral election
 
Candidate John Glover Glyn Lewers Nik Kiddle
Affiliation Independent Independent Independent
Popular vote 4,599 3,244 2,108
Percentage 35.58% 25.09% 16.31%
 
Candidate Darren Rewi Al Angus
Affiliation Independent Independent
Popular vote 1,671 874
Percentage 12.93% 6.76%
Mayor before election

Glyn Lewers
Independent

 Elected mayor

John Glover
Independent

Council election
11 seats on the Queenstown-Lakes District Council
6 seats needed for a majority
Party Seats +/–
Independent 11
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

The 2025 Queenstown-Lakes District Council election was a local election held from 9 September to 11 October in the Queenstown-Lakes District of New Zealand, as part of that year's territorial authority elections and other local elections held nation-wide.

Voters elected the mayor of Queenstown-Lakes, 11 district councillors, and other local representatives for the 2025–2028 term of the Queenstown-Lakes District Council. Postal voting and the first-past-the-post voting system were used.

John Glover won the mayoralty, defeating incumbent mayor Glyn Lewers.

  • 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/preliminary results were published
  • 16–19 October 2025: Final results were declared.[1]

Background

Positions up for election

Voters in the district elected the mayor of Queenstown-Lakes, 11 district councillors in 3 wards, and the members of the Wānaka-Upper Clutha Community Board.[2] They also elected several members to the Otago Regional Council.[a][3][4]

Campaign

List of candidates

Incumbents not seeking re-election

  • Esther Whitehead, councillor for the Queenstown-Whakatipu ward[5][6][7]

Mayor

Candidate[8] Affiliation[b] Notes
Al Angus None Previously ran for mayor in 2022[10]
John Glover None Hotel owner.[11] Ran in the 2023 Arrowtown-Kawarau by-election.
Nik Kiddle Independent Mayoral candidate in 2019[12]
Glyn Lewers None Incumbent mayor since 2022[6][7]
Darren Rewi None Chair of Mana Tahuna Charitable Trust[13][14]
Daniel Shand Independent (Direct Democracy) Previously ran for the mayoralty in 2022[15]

Councillors

Queenstown-Whakatipu general ward

Queenstown-Whakatipu general ward returned four councillors to the district council.[2]

Candidate[8] Affiliation[b] Notes
Gavin Bartlett None Incumbent councillor[6][7]
Stephen Brent None Lawyer and chair of 45South Community Foundation[16]
Aaron Cowie Independent [17]
Craig "Ferg" Ferguson None Incumbent councillor[7]
Jon Mitchell Independent Previously ran for the mayoralty in 2022[18]
Rene Smith None
Matt Wong Independent Incumbent councillor[7]

Wānaka-Upper Clutha general ward

Wānaka-Upper Clutha general ward returned four councillors to the district council.[2]

Candidate[8] Affiliation[b] Notes
Barry Bruce None Incumbent councillor[6][7]
Lyal Cocks None Incumbent councillor[6][7]
Craig Gasson None [19]
Niki Gladding Independent Incumbent councillor for the Queenstown-Whakatipu ward[20][7]
Nicola King None
Yeverley McCarthy None
Quentin Smith None Incumbent deputy mayor[6][7]
Cody Tucker None Incumbent councillor[6][7]
Thorsk G Westphal None

Arrowtown-Kawarau general ward

Arrowtown-Kawarau general ward returned three councillors to the district council.[2]

Candidate[8] Affiliation[b] Notes
"Q" (Samuel) Belk None
Heath Copland None Previously ran for council in 2019[21]
Lisa Guy None Incumbent councillor[6][7]
Tim Manning None
Melissa White None Incumbent councillor[6][7]

Results

Overall turnout for this election was 41.16%, with 12,927 voting papers returned.[22]

With the final results, the following candidates were declared elected:[22]

Mayor

John Glover won the mayoralty, defeating incumbent mayor Glyn Lewers.[23]

2025 Queenstown-Lakes mayoral election[24]
Affiliation Candidate Vote %
Independent John Glover 4,599 35.58
Independent Glyn Lewers† 3,244 25.09
Independent Nik Kiddle 2,108 16.31
Independent Darren Rewi 1,671 12.93
Independent Al Angus 874 6.76
Independent Daniel Shand 125 0.97
Informal 36 0.28
Blank 270 2.09
Turnout 12,927
Registered
Independent gain from Independent
† incumbent

Council

Queenstown-Whakatipu Ward

Queenstown-Whakatipu ward [24]
Affiliation Candidate Vote %
Independent Matt Wong† 2,287
Independent Gavin Bartlett† 2,002
Independent Stephen Brent 1,924
Independent Jon Mitchell 1,689
Independent Craig Ferguson 1,648
Independent Aaron Cowie 1,349
Independent Rene Smith 904
Informal 4
Blank 55
Turnout
Registered
Independent hold
Independent hold
Independent gain from Independent
Independent gain from Independent
† incumbent

Wānaka-Upper Clutha Ward

Wānaka-Upper Clutha ward[24]
Affiliation Candidate Vote %
Independent Nicola King 3,610
Independent Quentin Smith† 3,394
Independent Niki Gladding 2,863
Independent Cody Tucker† 2,039
Independent Craig Gasson 2,005
Independent Yeverley McCarthy 2,005
Independent Lyal Cocks† 1,667
Independent Barry Bruce† 1,241
Independent Thorsk G. Westphal 1,083
Informal 15
Blank 28
Turnout
Registered
Independent gain from Independent
Independent hold
Independent gain from Independent
Independent hold
† incumbent

Arrowtown-Kawarau Ward

Arrowtown-Kawarau ward[24]
Affiliation Candidate Vote %
Independent Heath Copland 1,927
Independent Melissa White† 1,730
Independent Samuel Belk 1,703
Independent Lisa Guy† 1,518
Independent Tim Manning 1,448
Informal 7
Blank 117
Turnout
Registered
Independent gain from Independent
Independent hold
Independent gain from Independent
† incumbent

See also

Notes

References

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