2025 Dunedin City Council election
The 2025 Dunedin City Council election was a local election held from 9 September to 11 October in Dunedin, New Zealand as part of that year's nation-wide local elections. Voters elected the mayor of Dunedin and 14 city councillors, and other local representatives for the 2025–2028 term of the Dunedin City Council. Postal voting and the single transferable vote system were used.
Councillor Sophie Barker won the mayoralty, defeating incumbent mayor Jules Radich.
Key dates
- 4 July 2025: Nominations for candidates opened
- 1 August 2025: Nominations for candidates closed at 12 pm
- 9 September 2025: Voting documents were posted and voting opened
- 11 October 2025: Voting closed at 12 pm and progress/preliminary results were published
- 16–19 October 2025: Final results were declared.
Background
Positions up for election
Voters in the city elected the mayor of Dunedin, 14 city councillors at-large, the members of six community boards, and the members of the Oamaru Licensing Trust. They also elected 7 members of the Otago Regional Council.Campaign
Debates
On 17 June 2025, Dunedin climate advocate Bruce Mahalski held a public meeting for DCC council and mayoral candidates to field questions on climate change issues including a commercial train service, the city's Zero Carbon Plan 2030, and relations between the DCC and Otago Regional Council. Mayoral candidates Cr Sophie Barker and Andrew Simms, and city council candidates Cr Marie Laufiso, Cr Jim O'Malley and Lily Warring spoke at the meeting, which was attended by 50 people.Issues
One key election issue has been the proposed landfill site at Smooth Hill. While the incumbent Mayor Jules Radich has supported the Smooth Hill landfill site, mayoral candidate Andrew Simms and his Future Dunedin ticket have opposed the new landfill site.On 23 September, 15 left-wing DCC and ORC candidates established an alternative progressive alliance called "The People's Hub" to advocate on shared values such as climate action, social justice, traffic speed reductions and reviving passenger trains. The group consisted of candidates from the Labour, Green parties, the Radical Action Faction and Building Kotahitaka including Cr Steve Walker, Cr Marie Laufiso, Cr Alan Somerville and ORC candidate Alex King. The group established a hub at the corner of George Street and Moray Place in Dunedin to promote their causes and encourage people to vote.
List of candidates
Incumbents not seeking re-election
- David Benson-Pope, incumbent councillor since 2013
Mayor
Incumbent mayor Jules Radich would stand again as an independent candidate. Other independent candidates included councillors Sophie Barker, Carmen Houlahan, Mandy Mayhem, and Lee Vandervis. Candidates standing under a ticket are Marie Laufiso as the Building Kotahitaka candidate, Andrew Simms as the Future Dunedin candidate and Mickey Treadwell as the Green candidate.Endorsements
In mid June 2025, former Team Dunedin councillors Andrew Whiley and Kevin Gilbert endorsed Sophie Barker as mayoral candidate.Councillors
Fourteen councillors will be elected at-large to the city council.Results
Overall turnout for this election was 45.47%, with 43,310 voting papers returned.With final results, the following candidates were elected: