Elections

You are here > Home > The Council & its People > Elections > Election Overview

Election Overview

Local body elections are conducted under the Local Electoral Act 2001, the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 and the Local Government Act 2002.

The Local Electoral Act 2001 allows a local authority to use either the First Past the Post (FPP) electoral system or the Single Transferable Vote (STV) electoral system for electing its members.

We use the FPP system. Electors vote by indicating their preferred candidate(s), and the candidate(s) that receives the most votes is declared the winner, regardless of the proportion of votes that candidate(s) received.

NPDC Election information

The next election for New Plymouth District Council Mayor, councillors and community board members will be held on Saturday 9 October 2010.

Mayor - The Mayor is elected by all the district’s voters.

Council - For electoral purposes the district is divided into three wards that elect a total of 14 councillors (excluding the Mayor). The wards and number of councillors elected for each are:

• North Ward - two councillors.
• New Plymouth City Ward - ten councillors.
• South-West Ward - two councillors.

• Ward map (One page 27KB PDF)

Community Boards - New Plymouth District has four communities and electors in those communities vote for members to represent them on the respective community board. The communities are Clifton, Inglewood, Kaitake and Waitara.

Each community board comprises of four elected members plus one councillor from the relevant ward who is appointed by the council.

• Community board map (One page 28KB PDF) 

Stand for office

To stand for office as an elected representative you must be:

• 18 years old or older.
• Registered on the electoral roll.
• A New Zealand citizen.

Restrictions on standing as a candidate:

Restrictions on standing as a candidate

• You cannot stand for election to both New Plymouth District Council (as Mayor or councillor or community board member) and Taranaki Regional Council.
• You cannot stand for election to more than one ward or constituency of the same authority.
• You cannot stand for more than one district health board.
• You may stand for the positions of Mayor and councillor and community board member but if elected to more than one position, you are treated as having vacated the lower ranking position.

Related links

• Enrol to vote