Bob Harvey has two opponents for Waitakere mayoralty 47 seek election as Waitakere City Councillors

A total of 47 people have offered themselves for election as Councillors in Waitakere City and 49 have sought election as Community Board members in the city’s four wards.

Incumbent mayor Bob Harvey is seeking his fifth term. Two candidates are standing against, him. One is sitting councillor Vanessa Neeson who has stood against Mr Harvey several times in the past. The other is a newcomer to the race, Steve McDonald, who is also standing for election as a Councillor (in the Waitakere Ward) and to the Henderson Ward Community Board.

The 47 Council nominees will be contesting 14 seats and 49 nominees will be seeking one of 22 community board seats.

The biggest contest will be in the Massey Ward where 14 people are vieing for four Council seats and 16 are contesting 6 Community Board places

There are 14 candidates for the three Councillor seats in Henderson Ward and 15 for the five Community Board places. There are 12 candidates for the four New Lynn Council seats and 11 for the five member Community Board while Waitakere Ward has seven people contesting three Council seats and seven contesting six Community Board places.

Only one current councillor is not seeking re-election, Owen Hoskin, the principal of Henderson High School, who is standing down from the Councillor position but is seeking one of the Henderson Community Board places.

There are seven tickets: Team West which dominates the current Council with 35 candidates, Independent Ratepayers and Residents (4); Residents and Ratepayers Massey Ward (5); Massey Community Team (8); Residents and Ratepayers Henderson Ward (8 ); Save Our Ranges (2); Community Independent (1). The rest are independents or have not declared an affiliation.

Among the candidates are westie comedian Ewen Gilmour, former MP Tukoroirangi Morgan, Dennis Finn (statutory manager of Cambridge High School) and former investigative journalist Pat Booth.

Several of the candidates are believed to be in their 20’s. A significant number of the names also suggest that increasing numbers of Waitakere’s many different cultures are seeking to become involved in their local government.

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