Dunedin-based politics professor Janine Hayward has sounded a note of caution over national calls for a "short, sharp" independent review of voter turnout for local government elections.
Inventor, ski instructor, Ted Talk speaker and now New Zealand’s youngest mayor, Ben Bell is "ecstatic and humbled" after winning Gore’s mayoral race by just eight votes.
The Otago Regional Council is getting a new, fresher face after voters decided a 21-year-old student would fit the bill, while the fate of one incumbent is hanging on a single vote.
It was a double celebration for Clutha Mayor Bryan Cadogan on Saturday, as his re-election to the post for a fifth consecutive term jostled for attention with his birthday.