Local Government New Zealand says total turnout for the election was around 36 percent. Photo: RNZ / Eveline Harvey
Preliminary analysis of voting in the local elections shows turnout declined most in rural and provincial New Zealand, although overall voting rates there are still higher than in cities.
Local Government New Zealand says an initial study of this year's voting shows a total turnout of around 36 percent of the electorate, although that should increase once all the ballots cast on the final day are counted.
Turnout in the cities was down by 1.4 percent to 36.4 percent of potential voters.
Rural turnout fell 7.5 percent to 45 percent and voting in provincial cities was down 6.5 percent to 40 percent of potential voters.
LGNZ said the number of women mayors had increased, rising from 30 percent three years ago to 34 percent now.
LGNZ wants a review of local elections to improve voting.
Its president Stuart Crosby said this election LGNZ ran a multi-faceted campaign to increase the diversity of candidates and voter turnout, but they always knew it would "take more than one election cycle to turn this around".
"To make a real difference, however, it will require a deliberate effort by councils and communities to better engage with each other in the decisions councils are making, so voters feel more connected to local government, as well as making the process of voting easier," Crosby said in a statement.
LGNZ wanted to work with central government to review how elections were delivered and to consider factors such as the practicality of postal voting and accessing ballot boxes in more remote parts of the country, he said.
LGNZ chief executive Susan Freeman-Greene said they wanted practical recommendations that are taken on board by the government so voting can be made more accessible in the 2025 elections.
"We want to see a short, sharp and independent review that should feed into the Future for Local Government Review as well as the review of Parliamentary Electoral Law," she said in a statement.