Photo: Mark Mitchell/NZ HeraldBy Isaac DavidsonNew mayors have been elected in most major centres around New Zealand as voters overwhelmingly opted for a change of direction. Amid poor results for left-leaning candidates, Tory Whanau bucked the national trend by winning the Wellington mayoralty. A former National Party candidate for the East Coast, she is the great-niece of Sir Peter Tapsell, a former Labour Party Speaker of the House and cabinet minister. In Dunedin, councillor Jules Radich had a landslide victory over the incumbent Green Party mayor Aaron Hawkins, who was elected in 2019 after two terms as a councillor. The 30-year-old councillor, who ran for the National Party, is the first Māori woman elected to the role in Rotorua.

Source: Otago Daily Times October 09, 2022 00:16 UTC