The 2024 Tauranga City Council election was a local election held from 29 June to 20 July in Tauranga, New Zealand, following the end of the crown commission. Voters elected the mayor of Tauranga and 9 city councillors, for the unusually quadrennial 2024âÂÂ2028 term of the Tauranga City Council. Postal voting and the first-past-the-post voting system was used.
Key dates relating to the election were as follows:
These were the first elections for the Tauranga City Council since 2019, following the appointment by the Minister of Local Government of a Crown Commission to oversee Tauranga City Council's governance responsibilities on 9 February 2021.
The Tauranga City Council used the single transferable voting system to elect the Mayor of Tauranga and city councillors for a term that will last until the 2028 local elections.
Tauranga City Council created nine electoral wards for these elections. There were eight general wards (Mauao/Mount Maunganui, Arataki, PÃÂpÃÂmoa, Welcome Bay, Matua-Otà «moetai, Bethlehem, Tauriko and Te Papa) and one MÃÂori ward (Te Awanui, covering the entire city) which each returned one councillor.
Nominations for candidates opened on 26 April 2024 and closed on 24 May 2024. The following 86 candidates have been confirmed to be running for the positions of mayor and the nine city councillors:
There were 14 candidates for mayor.
The official results of the election were released on 25 July. Voter turnout was 38.77%, which compares with a turnout of 40.28% at the 2019 election. Only one woman, Jen Scoular for the Mauao/Mount Maunganui ward, was elected to the council. Two former councillors, Steve Morris and Rick Curach, were re-elected.
Mikaere Sydney was elected as councillor for Tauranga's first MÃÂori ward Te Awanui, which the Tauranga commission had confirmed at a meeting in April 2021 following the passage of the Local Electoral (MÃÂori Wards and MÃÂori Constituencies) Amendment Act 2021. Te Awanui is at risk of dissolution due to the National-led coalition government requiring local councils to hold binding referendums on MÃÂori wards.
Mahé Drysdale was elected, defeating Greg Brownless after 14 iterations. Ria Hall came second on the primary vote but was eliminated in the 13th iteration. Tina Salisbury was the only other candidate to get over 10% of the primary vote.