Jules Radich defeated one-term Dunedin mayor Aaron Hawkins comfortably and said he planned to lead the city by building consensus and following through with action.
Mr Radich (67) said on Saturday he felt a degree of serenity after being told a progress result that had him well ahead.
"I’m just thinking about how to make it work, how to get everyone together, how to get people mostly on the same page ..."
In Invercargill, the long-serving Sir Tim Shadbolt lost the mayoralty and did not make it on to the council, either.
Nobby Clark won the Invercargill mayoralty, well ahead of broadcaster Marcus Lush.
Sir Tim said in a statement he had "personally borne the brunt of the last three years of angst on council".
He had been in office for 24 consecutive years and also won a mayoral by-election there in 1993, but lost the mayoralty in the 1995 elections.
The Queenstown Lakes mayoralty was won by Glyn Lewers, ahead of Jon Mitchell.
Mr Lewers, a structural engineer, takes over from two-term mayor Jim Boult, who did not seek re-election.
Mr Lewers became a councillor in 2019 and got there by virtue of a coin toss with AJ Mason, after the pair were tied on the same number of votes.
A final result is not expected before Thursday.
The Southland mayoralty was also too close to call last night.
Lumsden businessman Rob Scott had an 18-vote lead over Geoffrey Young, and incumbent Gary Tong was just 15 votes further back in third.
A final result is expected by Thursday, after special votes are counted.
Progress results for the Otago Regional Council had Cr Alexa Forbes in the Dunstan ward making it in by just one vote over Tony Lepper.
That picture changed dramatically late last night, when preliminary results came through.
Support for Cr Forbes had solidified and she edged ahead of Cr Michael Laws, who now appears to be at some risk of losing his seat.
Cr Laws has a 29-vote lead over Mr Lepper on the preliminary results.
Cr Carmen Hope appears to have lost her seat in the regional council's Molyneux ward, as she is 311 votes behind Cr Kate Wilson.
Gary Kircher retained the Waitaki mayoralty, Bryan Cadogan was re-elected in Clutha for a fifth consecutive term and Tim Cadogan had already won the Central Otago mayoralty, elected unopposed.
Dunedin’s mayor-elect has a background in business.
Mr Radich started Uptown Motorcycles in Dunedin in 1984, sold the business 20 years later and he is a business coach.
Mr Radich said residents could expect a review of the George St revamp, although designs for the look of the street should proceed as planned.
"Whether it’s two-way or one-way remains to be seen," he said.
Mr Radich, who in the past term voted against one-way traffic for the street, signalled he wanted options for the future to be preserved.
"The lack of flexibility in what has been installed already is of grave concern."
Mr Radich was confident the State Highway 1 one-way pair of routes in the central city would be preserved.
He has been a staunch defender of the one-way system amid some moves by the council in the past term to advocate for consideration of a two-way model. The final call is to be made by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, but the city council is due to offer its view early in the next term.
Mr Radich said the decision about who might be Dunedin deputy mayor would not be made unilaterally.
