Candidates encouraged to stand for region’s councils
Candidates are being urged to get their nominations in for the Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council elections as the deadline looms with low numbers putting their names forward.
On Tuesday there were only 10 nominations for the 12 seats on the Nelson City council. Nominations have to be received by midday on Friday.
In Tasman, 17 people had been nominated for the 22 council and community board vacancies on Tuesday.
The mayoral races are more contested. Sitting Tasman mayor Tim King has put his hat in the ring again, with other nominations so far from Timo Neubauer, Maxwell Clark, Richard Johns and Richard Osmaston.
Four people have so far entered the Nelson mayoral race, incumbent Nick Smith, sitting councillor Aaron Stallard, Richard Osmaston and John Wakelin.
Colours of autumn in Nelson. Halifax St East.
In the Nelson City Council’s central ward, which has four vacancies, there were only two nominations and there were also low numbers in the Stoke-Tāhunanui and at-large wards.
In Tasman there was only one nomination for the three vacancies in the Moutere ward, and only two for the three vacancies in the Motueka ward.
Election Services Tasman district electoral officer Dale Ofsoske said he was simultaneously “a little surprised, but not surprised” about the low numbers of nominations.
“People generally or historically do leave lodging their nominations to the last minute,” he said.
“We certainly encourage them to lodge them as soon as they can. If they leave it till Friday morning and there’s a problem with the nomination, there is not a lot of time to get it fixed.”
One of the main problems was that the two people nominating the candidate may not be in the area that the person was standing for, which was a legal requirement.
If the nominator was outside the area, that made that nomination invalid, and if it was lodged at 11.55am, that left them five minutes to resolve the issue, he said.
Ofsoske also suspected there was some strategy in play as well, as candidates could be waiting to see who else was going to put their hand up or put their nomination in, and that would determine whether they stood or not.
Having fewer nominations than seats available was “not unique” across the country in the 23 councils he dealt with.
If there were an insufficient number of candidates, that would mean those on the list were elected unopposed, but the council would be forced to have a byelection for the other vacancy or vacancies – costing ratepayers money.
Ofsoske said he suspected that the weather events that Tasman had experienced over the last month may have had an impact.
“People are preoccupied with dealing with flooding and all those issues, and possibly that may be the last thing on their mind,” he said.
The Nelson council’s deputy electoral officer Devorah Nicuarta-Smith said there was traditionally a late burst of nominations.
But she urged people not to leave it too late before the cut-off to allow officials enough time to confirm nominations, including checking the details of the two nominators.
In the last election there were about 40 candidates in the Nelson council elections.
“We would love to see more candidates come forward,” Nicuarta-Smith said.
“I’m aware that people might rule themselves out because they think my background is not right or I don’t know what I would bring, but experience and different perspectives is the whole point.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to have a real say on the direction of the city.”
By Warren Gamble, Nelson Mail
This Post Has 0 Comments