Voting is well underway in the local government elections - but who is vying for the top mayoral spot in New Zealand's fourth largest city?
TVNZ1's Q+A met the eight candidates: Louisa Hutt, Mike West, Andrew King, Lisa Lewis, Jack Gielen, James Casson, Angela O'Leary and Paula Southgate.
The voting system in Hamilton is first past the post, with the last election seeing candidate Ms Southgate missing out by six votes to incumbent mayor Andrew King.
It was reportedly the closest election result in the history of New Zealand.
Hamilton's voter turn out has been lower than the national average for the last few elections, but Hamilton City Council chief executive Richard Briggs said he was optimistic the turn out would be better this election.
"We've gone as big as we can to get the message out there," he told Q+A.
Q+A is on TVNZ1 on Mondays at 9.30pm, and the episode is then available on TVNZ OnDemand and as a podcast in all the usual places.
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