Former Northland Port Corporation chief executive Terry Archer has won the Northland Regional Council (NRC) Whangārei urban by-election.
Terry Archer. Photo: Supplied / Northern Advocate
Archer, 69, won the constituency by-election ahead of seven other candidates in voting which closed at midday Wednesday.
"I'm excited about it. I am looking forward to contributing to the future of the NRC and Northland," Archer said.
"I was elected in the Whangārei urban constituency but see my constituency as being the whole of Northland."
The Whangārei horse breeder's 1671 votes were 37 percent ahead of the candidate with the next-highest voting numbers, Darleen Tana Hoff-Nielsen, who received 1217 votes.
Crichton Christie received 772 votes, Paul Dimery 627, Stuart Bell 529, Kieran Powdrell 456, Fiona Douglas 427 and Charlotte Toner 375.
A 20.8 percent voter turnout elected Archer. There were 6074 votes from 29,160 registered Whangārei urban constituency voters.
Archer becomes one of nine NRC councillors and along with sitting councillor Jack Craw becomes one of two elected representatives from the Whangārei urban constituency - NRC's second-largest by population.
The $80,000 by-election was called after the seat was left vacant by the resignation of former NRC councillor John Bain late last year over the council's vote for Māori constituencies.
NRC in October voted 7:1 in favour of Māori constituencies. Archer is against dedicated Māori seats.
Whangārei urban byelection voting began on 26 January and continued through Covid-19 level two restrictions.
All resident electors and non-resident ratepayer electors in the Whangārei urban constituency whose names were on the latest electoral roll were eligible to vote.
Archer's first full council meeting will be on Tuesday next week.
Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers' Association and NZ On Air.