Council election just eight months away
26 February 2019
Work is already well underway preparing for elections to choose a mayor, councillors and community board members for the Waipā district.
Nominations in local body elections throughout the country open on Friday 19 July 2019 and close at noon on Friday 16 August. Postal voting papers will be delivered from 20 September with voting closing at 12 noon on Saturday 12 October. Interim results are likely to be available that night with official results declared the following week.
Waipā District Council's elections will see voters choose five Cambridge ward councillors, four Te Awamutu ward councillors, two councillors from Pirongia and one councillor apiece representing the Kakepuku and Maungatautari wards. Voters will also choose six Cambridge Community Board members and five Te Awamutu Community Board members. Successful candidates will serve a three year term.
Waipā District Council will hold a candidate information evening later this year for those considering standing for election. To stand you must be a New Zealand citizen over the age of 18, be enrolled on the parliamentary electoral roll and have lived in your current address (at the time of nomination) for at least one month. Council candidates do not need to live in the ward they are seeking to represent, or in the Waipā district. This applies to the whole of New Zealand. People currently serving a prison sentence of three or more years cannot stand.
At its Council meeting today, Waipā District Council confirmed that, as per the 2013 and 2016 elections, the order of candidate names in the 2019 voting documents will appear in random order. This means every voting paper will have candidates ordered randomly by their surname.
At the same time as Council elections are held, voters will also be asked to vote for Waikato Regional Council councillors and Waikato District Health Board members.
Anyone interested in standing for Council or a Community Board is encouraged to attend meetings over the coming months. Council's meeting schedule is available online.