The Greens' Geordie Rogers has won the race to fill Tamatha Paul's vacated seat on the Wellington City Council, in a shift from early results.
Independent Karl Tiefenbacher initially led the count in progress and preliminary results for the Pukehīnau/Lambton ward, but final results showed Rogers with a slim lead.
Tiefenbacher's lead narrowed from an initial 600 to just 164 in the provisional results released on Sunday. Today's results include 537 special votes cast. Rogers has won the seat with 4147 votes — 45 votes ahead of Karl Tiefenbacher on 4102 votes.
A self-described centrist, Tiefenbacher was a local businessman who owned a popular ice cream and coffee chain. He campaigned on cutting spending and opposed the Let's Get Wellington Moving transport initiative.
Rogers ran a progressive campaign, based on affordable housing and improving renters' rights. He had previously been the president of the lobby group Renters' United.
The Pukehīnau / Lambton seat was vacated after Green incumbent Tamatha Paul was elected to become Wellington Central's electorate MP at last year's general election.
A total of 8644 votes were cast – equating to a turnout of about 25% of the 33,723 enrolled voters in the ward – which centred on central Wellington, Te Aro and surrounding inner suburbs.
Commentators have described the by-election as being critical for the balance of the city's council, as mayor Tory Whānau worked on passing a revised district zoning plan.
SHARE ME