Local election candidates named

Published on 12 August 2022

Candidate nominations for the 2022 local elections in Whanganui have officially closed with 27 nominations received for council, seven nominations for the Whanganui Rural Community Board and three contenders for the mayoral seat.

The number of nominations for Whanganui District Council has declined from 29 received in the previous local election in 2019, and 33 in 2016.

The list of candidates for the 2022 local elections in Whanganui is:

Mayoralty (1 vacancy)

DC Harding

Hamish McDouall, (Independent)

Andrew Tripe, (The Change We Need)

Councillors at large (12 vacancies)

Charlie Anderson, (Independent)

Philippa Baker-Hogan, (Sport, Community and Business Focused)

James Barron, (Independent)

Aisha Beazley, (Whānau rising together)

Andreas Bodenstein

Glenda Brown, (Independent)

Roy Brown,  (Independent)

Josh Chandulal-Mackay, (A vote for integrity)

Helen Craig, (Independent)

Jenny Duncan, (Independent)

Ross Fallen, (Independent)

DC Harding,  (Your Voice, Heard First)

Dave Hill

Gill Howard

Dan Jackson

Kate Joblin,  (Independent)

Blair Jones (Independent)

Michael Law,  (Independent)

Charlotte Melser

James Newell

Peter Oskam, (No spin. Straightforward.)

Cerise Packer (Independent)

Scott Phillips

Phillip Reweti (Bear), (Mana Whenua)

Rory Smith,  (Independent)

Rod Trott

Rob Vinsen, (Ratepayer Focused)

Whanganui Community Subdivision (2 vacancies)             

Peter Oskam, (No spin. Straightforward.)

David Wells

Kai Iwi Community Subdivision (3 vacancies)

Michael Dick (Independent)

Sandra Falkner

Grant Skilton

Kaitoke Community Subdivision (2 vacancies)

Bill Ashworth

Julian (Judd) Bailey

The full list of candidates is listed in the ‘Vote’ section on the council’s election website votewhanganui.nz.

Mayoral candidates will discuss the critical issues for Whanganui in a public Mayoral Forum held at 5.30pm on Wednesday, 14 September at the Whanganui War Memorial Centre, hosted by local democracy reporter Moana Ellis and former editor of the Whanganui Chronicle Mark Dawson.

A ‘Meet the Candidates’ evening will be held at 5.30pm on Thursday, 15 September at the War Memorial Centre, featuring a Q&A session hosted by local community leaders Jay Rerekura and Christina Emery.

Candidate profiles and their priorities for Whanganui will be added to the votewhanganui.nz website in late August.

Kate Barnes says, “We encourage voters to get in touch with candidates and find out what they are standing for, or bring questions along to one of our interactive meet the candidates sessions. If you can’t make it in person, each session will also be livestreamed via the council’s website and Facebook page.” Candidate contact details will be made available on votewhanganui.nz late next week.

Voting papers will be sent out in the mail between September 16 and 21. They must be returned by midday Saturday, October 8. Preliminary results will be released that afternoon.

If you enrol or update your details after midnight 12 August 2022, you won’t get your voting papers sent to you in the mail. You can request special voting papers by visiting Whanganui District Council at 101 Guyton Street. The council will be open until 6.00pm 3-7 October to receive votes.

The last day to enrol to vote in the local elections is Friday 7 October.

ENDS

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