2025 Hamilton City Council election
The 2025 Hamilton City Council election was a local election held from 9 September to 11 October in Hamilton, New Zealand as part of that year's nation-wide local elections. Voters [2025 Hamilton, New Zealand|Hamilton mayoral election|elected] the mayor of Hamilton and 14 city councillors for the 2025–2028 term of the Hamilton City Council. Postal voting and the single transferable vote system were used.
A finalised list of candidate names was released by the City Council on 4 August identifying 52 candidates, including 12 candidates for mayor. Incumbent mayor Paula Southgate did not run for re-election.
Councillor Tim Macindoe won the mayoralty, with fellow councillor Sarah Thomson coming in second place.
The council introduced a Māori ward at the 2022 election. In a referendum on its future held at this election, as part of a nation-wide series of referendums, voters elected to keep the Māori ward.
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 Hamilton and 14 councillors from 3 wards. They also elected several members of the Waikato Regional Council.Campaign
Better Hamilton was a group of candidates who jointly campaigned during the election campaign.List of candidates
Incumbents not seeking re-election
- Paula Southgate, mayor since 2019
- Moko Tauariki, councillor for the Kirikiriroa Maaori ward since 2022
- Ewan Wilson, councillor in the West ward since 2019
- Kesh Naidoo-Rauf, councillor in the East ward since 2019