Former New Zealand First list MP Ria Bond and regional councillor Don Byars announced their intentions to run for the mayoralty for the Invercargill City Council and Southland District Council, respectively.
Both will also fight for a seat at the council table at October’s election.
Ms Bond said she believed she was the right person for the job in Invercargill not only due to her strong business and governance background, but also for her passion for the community.
Her experience advocating for members of the Invercargill public was indisputable, she said.
"I am running for mayor ... because I believe everything we do as leaders should always be about the people who we represent. It is time to move our city forward," she said.
This was the second time she announced her candidacy for the mayoralty but the first time she would officially run.
She said in 2019 a mistake around an address on the nomination form meant she could not be an official candidate.
"I am very, very happy to confirm my nomination has been accepted."
Cr Don Byars will make a tilt for the Southland mayoralty after having served a term as a regional councillor.
While the issues were significant, they were not insurmountable, he said.
"They are all inter-related and with a change of approach many of the challenges facing our community can be viewed as opportunities to leave a better world for the children of today and tomorrow," he said.
"But it does require change in the mayoralty and it does require the people of our community to be involved in the change."
He believed his financial expertise combined with his ability to consider issues from perspectives outside "a group-think norm" could help achieve that.
"A desire to move away from the expense and destructive nature of supposed short-term ‘solutions’ towards long-term transformation are, in my opinion, a prerequisite for the mayoralty in today’s world of stress and complexions."
Cr Byars is the fifth candidate to announce his intentions to seek the Southland district mayoralty.
He joins current mayor Gary Tong, regional councillor Rob Scott, journalist and businesswoman Kirsty Pickett, former Federated Farmers president Geoffrey Young and community advocate Wendy Baker.
The race for the mayoral chains in Invercargill is becoming a crowded field.
Ms Bond joins Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt, deputy mayor Nobby Clark, Crs Rebecca Amundsen, Darren Ludlow and Ian Pottinger, and Bluff community board member Noel Peterson in Invercargill’s mayoralty race.
Nominations for the local body elections close on August 12.
