Tāmaki Makaurau's new mayor Wayne Brown says he wants the city's councillors to put "behind us the debates of the election" and to come together as a "team" as the city's final local election results were announced today.
The official results - which include all special votes - saw Brown keep a substantial lead on his opponent, Efeso Collins, by 57,008 votes, according to Auckland Council.
In a statement shortly after the results were announced, the mayoral-elect congratulated elected councillors and said it was "flattering" to receive an expression of "confidence in me" from 181,810 voters.
"With the Independent Māori Statutory Board, we have an opportunity – if we all choose to take it – to build a team of 21+," he said.
"We are well on our way towards putting behind us the debates and discussions of the election and forging a team to deliver on our campaign promises to make Auckland an even better place to live."
Brown's priorities this weekend would be "reading council documents and preparing a statement to be made tomorrow about an industry important to Aucklanders", according to the statement. It also stated the new mayor would be going surfing.
Auckland Council declared its final results on Saturday morning, with no major changes to existing candidate leads. There were about 6500 outstanding special votes that had previously been excluded from previous preliminary counts.
The newly-elected Auckland mayor spoke to reporters ahead of his first day on the job. (Source: 1News)
Seven new councillors will be joining the council's governing body and 36% of local board members elected are new to the council.
However, there "is a variation to note between the final count and the official results declared" for the Waitākere Ranges Local Board.
Ken Turner, who was leading in both the Waitākere Ward Councillor position and Waitākere Ranges Local Board, has been declared as Waitākere Ward Councillor alongside Shane Henderson, and withdrawn from the local board seat.
Turner's withdrawal means Mark Allen, the second-highest polling local board candidate, has been elected to the sixth seat on the board.
Allen received 5216 votes, polling in front of Angus Cathcart by 11 votes, who was leading in the preliminary round.
A total of 405,149 votes - or 35.5% of enrolled voters - were returned in the final count. The voter turnout was 35.3% in the 2019 local body elections.
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