The 2022 Wellington City Council election was a local election held from 16 September to 11 October in Wellington, New Zealand, as part of that year's nation-wide local elections. Voters elected the mayor of Wellington, 15 city councillors, and other local representatives for the 2022âÂÂ2025 term of the Wellington City Council. Postal voting and the single transferable vote voting system were used.
The election was held using the single transferable vote system. The mayor and 15 councillors were elected across six wards (five general and one mÃÂori ward). This was the first election to feature a MÃÂori ward in Wellington.
The council held a meeting in 2020 to decide on representation considerations such as the voting system and whether a MÃÂori ward should be introduced. Councillor Jill Day introduced an amendment to develop a report on giving mana whenua representatives voting rights and remuneration on council committees. Following the motion several councillors sung a waiata; councillor Sean Rush turned his back on the others for the duration of the waiata. Rush called for a point of order afterwards and said the amendment was out of scope; Foster ruled in Rush's favour. Rush would later apologize to Day.
The council voted in 2021 11-to-3 for the greater co-governance measures. Taranaki WhÃÂnui ki te Upoko o te Ika and NgÃÂti Toa could appoint a voting representative to most council committees and sub-committees and the iwi would each be paid an amount equal to a councillors salary. It was opposed by councillors Calvert, Sparrow and Young whilst Woolf was absent. The council later that year voted 13-to-2 to establish a MÃÂori ward, which was opposed by councillors Young and Sparrow.
Andy Foster was elected mayor of Wellington. Despite Foster's right wing position, a majority centre-left council was elected in the 2019 election.
The Wellington Central Library was closed in 2019 after a report found that the building was earthquake prone and would collapse in conditions similar to the 2016 Kaikà Âura earthquake. The New Zealand Institute of Architects mounted a campaign to save the library in response to then mayor, Justin Lester's, statement that the building would be demolished.
The council voted in June 2019 to strengthen the library 14-to-1. This was despite reports that found that upgrading the library would be the more expensive option. Out of fear that the building may be demolished, Heritage New Zealand proposed heritage status for the library in 2020. Public consultations ran from September to October and although the consensus from the public was to demolish, the council didn't change their decision. The library was eventually designated a category 1 historic building by Heritage New Zealand, the first building constructed in the 1990s to receive the status.
Foster proposed selling off the building's office space to offload the earthquake strengthening costs. The proposal was successful with a 9âÂÂ6 vote. The privatization faced opposition from all of the Labour councillors, and two of the Green councillors, Iona Pannett and Tamatha Paul. The other two Green councillors, Sarah Free and Laurie Foon, voted in favour of the proposal.
After the decision Labour councillor Fleur Fitzsimons, who held the libraries portfolio, reported Foster to the Auditor-General for an investigation. The Green party issued a "please explain" notice to Foon and Free over their votes in favour of privatization and for Foon's vote against increasing the cycling infrastructure budget. Foster soon after announced an independent review of the council's governance. The review found that the council had an unfit governance structure, a lack of direction and oversight, and some council staff feeling unsafe in giving free and frank advice.
Foon and fellow councillor Nicola Young then announced they no longer supported the privatization. Councillor Fitzsimons motioned for a second vote on the issue, seconded by Young. Foon, Young and Free changed their vote and the library remained in public ownership.
Councillor Malcom Sparrow resigned from the council in 2021 due to a health scare. Because there was less than a year until the next election, no by-election was held.
Water infrastructure in Wellington was managed by the regional body Wellington Water and was widely seen as inadequate; 40% of the city's water supply was lost in leaks. 57% of respondents to a Kantar poll cited water infrastructure as their top issue for this election.
The Sixth Labour Government announced it's plans for water reform in October 2021, but the implementation was delayed until February 2022. They finalised the plan in April 2022 and then began implementation. Water management in New Zealand was to be transferred to four larger entities. These entities would be run by a board of councils where they get one vote per 50,000 citizens along with voting members representing iwi.
When asked about three waters both Whanau and Eagle supported it whereas Foster opposed the reform.
Incumbent mayor Andy Foster announced his intention to seek re-election on the 7th of July 2022 on Newstalk ZB. Former Green Party parliamentary chief of staff Tory Whanau announced her campaign on the 18th of November 2021. She was endorsed by the party, but ran as an independent. Paul Eagle, a sitting MP for Rongotai, was endorsed by Labour and ran as an independent. Other candidates included Chris Dudfield, Kevin Hastie, Barbara McKenzie, and Ellen Blake. Foster said he saw the election as a two horse race between him and Paul Eagle.
Green-endorsed independent Tory Whanau defeated incumbent centre-right independent Andy Foster and Labour-endorsed independent Paul Eagle MP.
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The Takapà «/Northern general ward returned three councillors to the city council.
Incumbent councillor Jill Day announced she would not run for council again and instead run for a seat on the Tawa Community Board. Later in that year Day would be elected president of the Labour Party.
The Wharangi/Onslow-Western general ward returned three councillors to the city council.
The Pukehënau/Lambton general ward returned three councillors to the city council.
Incumbent Green Party councillor since 2007 Iona Pannett, who received the most votes in Pukehënau Lambton Ward in 2019, was not reselected by the Green Party in April 2022, and ran as an independent. Incumbent councillor Tamatha Paul was elected as an independent in 2019, but in May 2022 announced she would seek the Green nomination, which she received in June.
The Motukairangi/Eastern General ward returned three councillors to the city council.
Incumbent councillor Sarah Free ran as a Green candidate in previous elections, but announced in December 2021 that she would run as an independent in 2022. Incumbent councillor Sean Rush did not stand for re-election.
The Paekawakawa/Southern general ward returned two councillors to the city council.
Incumbent Labour councillor Fleur Fitzsimons did not run again so she could run as the Labour candidate for the Rongotai electorate for the 2023 New Zealand general election, replacing Paul Eagle.
Te Whanganui a Tara is a MÃÂori ward created by Wellington City Council in 2021. The 2022 election returned Nëkau Wi-Neera as its first-ever councillor.
The Tawa Community Board is made up of 2 councilors along with 6 representatives who are voted in by residents of Tawa, Grenada North and Takapu Valley.
The MÃÂkara / à ÂhÃÂriu Community Board is made up of 6 representatives voted in by residents of MÃÂkara, MÃÂkara Beach and à ÂhÃÂriu. Seven candidates ran but John Apanowicz's candidacy was superseded by winning a seat on the council, leaving the remaining six candidates automatic winners.
The Hutt Mana Charitable Trust's board of trustees is composed of two trustees elected from Lower Hutt, one from Upper Hutt, one from Porirua and one from Wellington. The Wellington Trustee is only elected by residents north of Khandallah, Ngaio, MÃÂkara and MÃÂkara Beach.
Following the election. Labour and Green councillors gained control over the three major committees in the Wellington City Council.
Following a month of negotiations and restructuring, Whanau reduced the number of council committees from five to three. Labour councillor Rebecca Matthews became chair of the committee in charge of long term-planning, finance, and performance. Labour councillors Teri O'Neill and Nureddin Abdurahman became the chair and deputy chair of the social, cultural, and economic committee. In addition, Green councillor Tamatha Paul became chair of the new environment and infrastructure committee.