Progress results announced in QLDC local election

Based on an initial progress result, John Glover has been elected as the Mayor of Queenstown Lakes District Council.

John Glover received 3449 votes ahead of candidates Glyn Lewers (2635 votes), Nik Kiddle (1629 votes), Darren Rewi (1236 votes), Al Angus (712 votes), and Daniel Shand (93 votes).

In Arrowtown-Kawarau Ward, Heath Copland (1510 votes), “Q” (Samuel) Belk (1349 votes), and Melissa White (1267 votes) were elected.

In Queenstown-Whakatipu Ward, Matt Wong (1744 votes), Gavin Bartlett (1537 votes), Stephen Brent (1437 votes), and Jon Mitchell (1307 votes) were elected.

In Wānaka-Upper Clutha Ward, Nicola King (2833 votes), Quentin Smith (2722 votes), Niki Gladding (2256 votes), and Yeverley McCarthy (1707 votes) were elected.

In Wānaka-Upper Clutha Community Board, Simon Telfer (3186 votes), Kathy Dedo (3081), John Wellington (2380 votes) and Chris Hadfield (1871 votes) were elected.

The voter return was 32.93 per cent, being 10,248 votes.

This progress result is based upon the counting of approximately 85 per cent of the returned votes and excludes votes in transit to the processing centre and special votes. The outcome of these elections may change once all votes have been counted.

Final results are expected by Thursday October 16.

Some candidates are on the cusp of election with special votes still to be counted.

In the Queenstown-Whakatipu Ward, Craig 'Ferg' Ferguson is on 1218 votes, just 89 votes behind Mitchell. Cody Tucker (1585) is 122 votes behind McCarthy in the Wānaka-Upper Clutha Ward and Tim Manning (1154) is 113 votes behind Melissa White.