The 2026 à Âtara-Papatoetoe Local Board by-election is an upcoming local by-election for the à Âtara-Papatoetoe Local Board in Auckland, New Zealand, with voting to take place between 9 March and 9 April 2026. Voters will elect 4 board members representing the Papatoetoe subdivision. The winners will serve for the remainder of the 2025âÂÂ2028 term.
Postal voting and the first past the post system will be used. Only voters who were qualified to vote in the Papatoetoe subdivision in the 2025 election are eligible to vote.
Key dates related to the by-election are:
Elections for the board members for the 2025âÂÂ2028 term of the à Âtara-Papatoetoe Local Board had originally been held as part of the 2025 local elections. Papatoetoe saw a more than 7 percent increase in voter turnout compared to the previous election, and was the only area of Auckland to see turnout significantly increase.
Following these elections, it was declared that all four seats for the Papatoetoe subdivision had been won by first-time candidates from the new Papatoetoe à Âtara Action Team ticket, with none of the previous board members having won re-election. However, these results were voided at a hearing at the Manukau District Court on 16 December 2025, following a petition alleging voting irregularities from former board member Vi Hausia. As such, a by-election to fill the vacated seats is to be held with voting opening on 9 March 2026.
The members of the Papatoetoe à Âtara Action Team ticket petitioned the High Court for an urgent judicial review of the District Court's decision. High Court Justice Jane Anderson reserved her decision in February. In March, Justice Anderson released her decision upholding the ruling of the District Court, meaning that the by-election would still go ahead.
Until the results of this election are confirmed, the à Âtara-Papatoetoe local board, having only the three confirmed members from the à Âtara subdivision out of a total of seven, cannot meet quorum.
Three tickets are running candidates for all four vacancies in the election: Labour, Papatoetoe à Âtara Action Team, and Independently Papatoetoe.
During the campaign, racially motivated allegations of electoral fraud were targeted at the Indian and South Asian communities in Papatoetoe. Candidates from both the Papatoetoe à Âtara Action Team and Labour condemned such rhetoric as misinformation.
Labour says it is campaigning on "protecting democracy", including under banners reading "Protect our Democracy". The Papatoetoe à Âtara Action Team alleged that Labour was using the district court decision during the campaign to imply that the Action Team had been involved in fraud in the October election without explaining the High Court judgement that the Action Team had not been impugned by the case. Labour candidate Vi Hausia in turn accused the Action Team of using ethnicity issues to distract from the actual grounds for his petition to the district court.
In March, a community-led "meet the candidates" forum, organised by local business Bluespur Consulting, was held at Papatoetoe Town Hall and was attended by 15 of the 20 candidates.
Twenty candidates are contesting the by-election, with 12 candidates from the 2025 election re-contesting the seats along with eight new candidates. All four of the Papatoetoe à Âtara Action Team candidates whose results in the previous election were voided are running again.
Results will be released after the election. class="wikitable" style="text-align:right" +2025 à Âtara-Papatoetoe Local Board by-election â Papatoetoe subdivision ! colspan="2" style="width:130px" Affiliation ! style="width:17em" Candidate ! style="width:5em" Votes ! style="width:3.5em" ! style="width:3.5em" -
style="text-align:left" style="text-align:left" to be determined
- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;font-weight:normal" Informal
- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;font-weight:normal" Blank
- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;font-weight:normal" Turnout
- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;font-weight:normal" Registered
colspan="2" style="background:#eaecf0" -
colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" Labour incumbent -
colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" Labour incumbent - style="background:" colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" Independently Papatoetoe incumbent -
colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" Labour incumbent - colspan="6" style="background:#eaecf0;text-align:left;padding-bottom:0px;padding-top:0px" incumbent }