2004 New Zealand local elections


The 2004 New Zealand local elections were triennial elections that were held ending 9 October 2007 to elect local mayors and councillors, regional councillors, and members of local boards.

Background

Voting system

All district health boards and ten district or city councils used the single transferable vote method for the 2004 local elections. All other councils used first past the post.
A private company, elections.com and its subsidiary Datamail, had been engaged by seven councils, eighteen DHBs, and one licensing trust with operating the STV elections. During the weekend of the elections, it was discovered that when voting papers were transferred to computer-readable data, not all data were correctly recorded. The Office of the Auditor-General became involved and tasked with confirming the election results. The final results for these elections became available in early November, nearly one month after the local election. The government initiated a select committee inquiry.

Elections

Regional councils

The regional level of government in New Zealand is organised into areas controlled by regional councils.

Territorial authorities

The city and district level of government in New Zealand is organised into areas controlled by territorial authorities. Some of these also have the powers of regional governments and are known as unitary authorities. The Chatham Islands have their own specially legislated form of government.

Mayors

All territorial authorities directly elected mayors.
Territorial authorityIncumbentElectedRunner-upDetailsSources

District health boards

Elections for the 21 district health boards were first held alongside the 2001 local elections. The government had hoped to use the STV voting method from the start but this could not be achieved and in 2001, first-past-the-post voting was used based on local wards. For the 2004 elections, the STV method was used. From 2004 onwards, DHB candidates have been elected at large.