The Invercargill mayoral race has thrown up another curveball, with deputy mayor Nobby Clark now entering the fray.
File photo: Invercargill City Council Photo:
Only last year Clark said he would quit local politics at this October's elections.
But he had recently come to the conclusion he was the right man to succeed Sir Tim Shadbolt.
"I've got unresolved business," he said.
"Two things have changed my mind. I've had a lot of ratepayer feedback saying 'Hey, look we need somebody at the top of the council that's going to have some new ideas and some innovation about getting things done'. But the other thing that's convinced me to be involved is ... there's a review of local government going on at the moment, which is the future of local government.
"I'm of the view that in Southland, where we have four councils at the moment, we will have some degree of amalgamation ... so we've got a window of opportunity to get things done and I don't want the resources that we've built up over a long period of time to be thrown in with the other councils at this stage. So we've got a three-year window of opportunity to get on and get things done."
Sir Tim had served as Invercargill's mayor since 1998, having previously served two years from 1993 to 1995 and six years as mayor of Waitematā City from 1983 to 1989.
Clark said Sir Tim had served admirably as the city's mayor in the past, but it was now time for change.
Several candidates had already declared their intention to run for Invercargill's mayoralty, despite nominations not yet opening.
Among them was Gary Tong, the sitting Southland District Mayor.
Clark said he did not believe Sir Tim had the support that he had enjoyed in the past after a tumultuous past two terms, including three deputy mayors in a three-year period.
Sir Tim won a plurality of the vote in 2019 and that remained a distinct possibility again this year with so many candidates in the running and Invercargill City Council's use of the first past the post voting system.