Radio host Steve Broad has been confirmed as Invercargill’s new city councillor.
The preliminary election results were confirmed yesterday afternoon, with the former New Zealand Idol star winning by a wide margin with 2760 votes.
David Meades was runner-up with 1576 votes.
Some 213 special votes were still to be counted at the time of the confirmation, but with a margin of over 1000 they would not affect the final result.
Mr Broad said he was feeling a lot of gratitude after being told the preliminary results.
"It’s been a real privilege to firstly run - a by-election was always going to be a challenge. I knew that I knew I had a mountain to climb ... I think it’s pretty incredible that people have trusted me with their one vote, that feels just special, and that’s where gratitude comes in."
Mr Broad will be sworn in ahead of the council’s community wellbeing committee meeting this afternoon.
"I’m going to want to get in and muck in, work really hard and focus on bringing that kind of positive change and positive momentum for the council - but first and foremost, I just want to soak it in...
"My granddad is going to be there, my dad’s gonna be there, my family, and I think I need to remind myself to sit back and take a breath and enjoy what feels like a very special moment in my life.
"We lost my mum a couple of years ago, and I just have that great sense that’d she’d be really proud."
Polls for the by-election closed noon Friday, with progress results that evening revealing Mr Broad’s strong lead, not including ordinary votes and special votes.
Council deputy electoral officer Michael Morris said the counting of the 13,158 ordinary votes had confirmed the election result.
Mr Morris said he was thrilled with the 34.10% voter turnout.
"We set ourselves a goal of around 35%, so we’re pleased so many members of our community decided to take part in democracy."
Mayor Nobby Clark said he was looking forward to working with Mr Broad on the council.
