The final count is in and the results are officially confirmed for this year’s local elections.
Of more than 10,000 special votes received, 5,838 special votes have now been validated.
Nearly half the special votes were deemed invalid due to incorrect or missing declaration details, or outdated enrolment details.
These final results confirm Wayne Brown has been re-elected as Auckland’s mayor.
He won the mayoral race with a total of 180,130 votes, ahead of Kerrin Leoni who received 77,577 votes.
Auckland Council’s general manager governance and engagement Lou-Ann Ballantyne is pleased with the record-breaking number of special votes received.
“This unprecedented number of special votes shows people were motivated to participate, and then able to easily access voting papers to participate,” Ballantyne says.
“A huge congratulations to our elected members and welcome to the 2025-2028 electoral term.”
There have been no major changes for ward councillors since the progress and preliminary results.
A total of five new councillors out of 20 are joining the council’s governing body alongside the returning mayor.
What’s changed since preliminary results?
These official results also confirm that Bo Burns, the owner of Times Media, is elected to the council for the Howick ward.
She therefore releases her leading position on the Howick Local Board in its Howick subdivision, electing Luke Collings to the local board.
Among the tightest of margins in Auckland, with just 10 votes separating them in the preliminary results, Bianca Ranson has overturned Paul Walden by 18 votes to secure the Waiheke Local Board’s fifth seat.
In Henderson-Massey, newcomer Ingrid Papau has overturned and locked in the eighth seat, with 6,514 votes, pushing out Linda Cooper who provisionally held the eighth position with a 20-vote margin.
Puketāpapa Local Board welcomes Rowan Cant in fifth place and Brendan Larmer in the sixth seat, marginally ahead of Raphaela Rose, who has missed out by 46 votes.
In Albert-Eden Local Board’s Maungawhau subdivision Michelle Thorp has secured the fourth seat with 4,376 votes, ahead of former board member Rex Smith by 190 votes.
With John Gillon now elected as North Shore ward councillor and leaving the leading position on Kaipātiki Local Board, the eight seat on the board goes to Emma Ryburn-Phengsavath.
Overall, 49 newly elected members will be joining 123 returning members to govern Tāmaki Makaurau.
“Next up, the electoral term commences with inaugural ceremonies, where newly elected members come together for the first time and will be sworn in,” Ballantyne says.
“I am especially looking forward to onboarding all 172 members to set them up for success for the next three years.”
In the final count, a total of 350,677 votes were returned, or 29.3 per cent of enrolled voters. In 2022’s election, the voter turnout was 35.5 per cent.
“We will be conducting a full evaluation and review of this year’s elections process which will be publicly available for elected members and Aucklanders ahead of the next election,” Ballantyne says.
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