2025 Nelson City Council election
The 2025 Nelson City Council election was a local election held from 9 September to 11 October in Nelson, New Zealand, as part of that year's nation-wide local elections. Voters elected the [Mayor of Nelson, New Zealand|Nelson, New Zealand|mayor of Nelson] and 12 city councillors for the 2025–2028 term of the Nelson City Council. Postal voting and the single transferable voting system were used.
Incumbent mayor Nick Smith won re-election to a second term.
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 Nelson and 12 city councillors in 4 wards.List of candidates
Incumbents not seeking re-election
- Matthew Benge, incumbent councillor
- Rohan O'Neill-Stevens, deputy mayor since 2022 and councillor since 2019
- Rachel Sanson, incumbent councillor
Councillors
Whakatū Māori ward
Whakatū Māori ward will return one councillor to the city council.Central ward
The Central ward will return four councillors to the city council.Stoke-Tāhunanui ward
The Stoke-Tāhunanui ward will return four councillors to the city council.At-large ward
Three councillors will be elected at-large to the city council.Results
Overall turnout for the election was 48.14%, with 18,789 voting papers returned.With the final results, the following candidates were declared elected: