New Gisborne District Council formed

Final votes made yesterday have been counted and the preliminary results for the Gisborne District Council 2016 election have been posted this morning.

Progress results published on Saturday 8 October revealed Meng Foon has been re-elected as Mayor, with a vote count of 7,899 in the preliminary results published today. He finished ahead of Tony Robinson with 5,136 votes, Geoff Milner 1,535 votes and Yvonne Bishop 251 votes.

Mayor Meng Foon thanked those who have supported his campaign, posting a video to his Facebook page shortly after 3pm yesterday. He and wife Ying said they were delighted with the results and very humbled by the support they've received.

“Nga mihi nui rawa atu mo to tautokotanga ki a matau a tatau katoa,” Mayor Foon commented.

“Thank you all for your support we are very humble to continue to support you all.”

He also gave congratulations to all those who stood for election and to those who won their seat.

Eight Councillors were re-elected. For Gisborne Rehette Stoltz, Larry Foster, Meredith Akuhata-Brown, Amber Dunn, Brian Wilson, Josh Wharehinga and Andy Cranston, as well as Bill Burdett who retained the Matakaoa-Waiapu ward.

Three new faces will join Council for the first time. Karen Fenn and Shannon Dowsing were elected for Gisborne and Malcolm Maclean filled the Taruheru-Patutahi ward seat.

They join Councillors Pat Seymour and Graeme Thompson both elected for their wards unopposed.

Results will be officially counted and published Saturday 15 October. The new Council will be sworn in at the tenth inaugural meeting of Council on Thursday 20 October.

An approximate total of 15,117 votes were returned making up 48% of registered voters in the district, just shy of the 48.3% who voted in 2013.

Election results for the Gisborne District Council can be found on Council’s website.
ENDS

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