by Geoffrey Churchman
KCDC has posted the full final list of vote counts here
As I learned in 2019, you can’t take candidate successes for granted; I did that year assuming Iride would win the Waikanae ward seat on the Council, but instead Jocelyn Prvanov took it.
This time in Waikanae I was expecting both Nigel Wilson and Prvanov to get back, but instead Steven Botica has eased out Nigel Wilson by 208 votes. All I know about Steven Botica is that he has been involved with Rotary for a long time, has been on the board of the Parkwood property business for 4 years and is a basketball coach.
Nigel says that the first statement contained in his candidate biography in the official booklet that he doesn’t live in the Waikanae ward counted against him, and that’s probably true. In fact he actually now lives only about 2 km south of the ward boundary in Otaihanga, but it’s hard to explain that fact satisfactorily to everyone. He says the expansion of his community news websites — in Kapiti, Porirua, Hutt, Horowhenua, and soon Palmerston North, will keep him busy.
My recommendation for Phil Byrne for one of the two Waikanae ward seats wasn’t heeded by too many, but he is at least now on the Waikanae Community Board, which should be a good springboard for the council in 2028.
In general, name recognition is important and is the biggest determination of votes received. Merit and achievements come second, unfortunately.
But in Paekakriki/Raumati, Bede Laracy had a decisive win, and I’m pleased to see Glen Olsen win one of the 3 Paraparaumu ward seats.
I know nothing about Heniti Buick in Otaki, but her comfortable win says she must be well-known there.
Likewise I know nothing about the winner of the new Maori ward, Himiona Nehua Grace, who squeezed in by 7 votes, except that he is a TPM member. That should create interest on the part of the Leftist Legacy Media and result in a lot more more coverage of Kapiti than would be the case otherwise. He may be the only Cr that TPM have in the whole country?
The mayoralty is always the big contest, being a full time role, and unfortunately it’s more of the same. I wanted Rob McCann to win, who I like on a personal level and he’s an old school Labour man in the mould of Norm Kirk and Jim Anderton with a genuine concern for the Working Class. I have no time for the new Labour breed of Authoritarians, Globalists, Wokeists, and System Elites that Janet Holborow represents.
The We Love Kapiti team ticket overall polled well, and Dean Harris’s result in the mayoralty race is very creditable. The Stuffers hated him, but their hit pieces on not just him but all liberatarian candidates could well have backfired on them. I’ll have more to say on that in a couple of days.
The turnout in the district overall was slightly up on 2022 and Waikanae’s was a high 61%, followed by Paekakariki at 57.9%.
Now we have Maori ward/s we don’t need Maori observers.
I’m so very surprised that the ratepayers put the fool who upped rates by 25% back in the chair.
I would really like to know if the people who left the Maori wards referendum blank meant to do so? Nearly 2000 voters didn’t tick yes or no which I find rather strange. If you’re taking the time to vote then why leave this blank????
I’m also appalled that the incumbent Mayor, who has squandered so much of our hard earned tax dollars, was reelected.
I’m very disappointed with these results