Kaipara mayoral candidate and incumbent deputy mayor Jonathan Larsen. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Northland's tightest election has become closer still, with only five votes between the top two contenders in Kaipara's mayoral race.
According to preliminary results released early Sunday afternoon, Jonathan Larsen has 3070 votes to Snow Tane's 3065.
Larsen, a former professional firefighter, was deputy mayor in the last council, and endorsed by outgoing mayor and self-declared 'Trump of the North' Craig Jepson.
Larsen was philosophical about having to wait until the end of the week to know who had won.
"It was a really very hard election to read, so I wasn't sure what the outcome would be. We'll just have to wait and see what happens with the special vote count, and it'll be what it is on Friday."
Tane, the general manager of Te Roroa Development Group, is a businessman and iwi leader, who has not served on the council before.
He said the tight result reflected the split he felt on the election trail, between voters who wanted change and those who wanted the council to maintain its current direction.
"I've never known to be this close before in a mayoralty race in the Kaipara. There's Jason Smith, Jonathan Larsen and myself, we're all in with a chance. It's all down to the specials now. There's only 31 votes between one and three. So there's nothing in it."
Third-placed Jason Smith, who was mayor in 2018-22, is just 26 votes behind Tane, with 3039 votes. He said Kaipara residents still had "a long way to go" before they had a new mayor.
"We still have all of the special votes to be counted. I don't know how many special votes there are or the nature of those special votes," he said.
"You've got three candidates within a bull's roar of each other. So it really is too close to call."
Commercial banker Ash Nayyar is trailing behind with 1256 votes.
The 74-vote gap between the top three candidates in progress results has now been whittled down to just 31.
The Kaipara District Council said the final result, including special votes, was expected on Friday.
Iwi leader and businessman Snow Tane is still a contender for mayor. Photo: RNZ/Peter de Graaf
In other Kaipara results, Jepson looks to have secured a place as councillor in the three-seat Kaiwaka-Mangawhai ward, where he is currently placed second with 1693 votes. Rachel Williams is on 1968 votes and Luke Canton on 1651.
Tane is guaranteed a seat at the council table, whether or not he overtakes Larsen in the final count.
In the Wairoa ward, which includes Dargaville, the iwi leader is streets ahead of the other candidates, with 2400 votes.
According to the preliminary results, the other successful Wairoa ward councillors are Joesephine Nathan (1413 votes) and Gordon Lambeth (1315).
However, Lambeth is currently just four votes ahead of fourth-placed Jan Beatty.
The frontrunners in the Otamatea ward are Mike Schimanski (807) and Mark Vincent (737).
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