Nobby Clark was elected as mayor with 60,537 of the votes according to the progressive results of this year’s local body election.
He was campaigning against nine others for the top council role, which included New Zealand’s longest serving mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt who wore the Invercargill mayoral chains for 24 straight years.
Toni Biddle, Ria Bond, Steve Chernishov, Darren Ludlow, Marcus Lush, Tom Morton, Noel Peterson and Jacqueline Walter also campaigned for mayoral role.
Invercargill City Council Deputy Electoral Officer Michael Morris said with only 2104 ordinary votes and a number of special votes still to be counted, the result was clear.
“We are delighted to see yet another strong voter turnout from our passionate Invercargill community,” Morris said.
“There were a large number of candidates for Mayor and it was a tight race but our city has spoken and we are pleased to announce Nobby Clark will be our new Mayor.”
Morris said Invercargill and Council would bid a fond farewell to long-serving Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt.
“Sir Tim Shadbolt is New Zealand’s longest-serving Mayor. His mayoralty spanned over 24 years and we know the Invercargill community has a strong affection and gratitude for his hard work and commitment to the role and the city over the past two decades.
“On Tuesday, I was coming home from Wellington, I told my taxi driver I was going to Invercargill and he immediately asked ‘how is Mayor Tim?’. He had been in his taxi once, and I think that’s the impact of Tim.”
Election results concerning Invercargill City Councillors will be forthcoming, Morris said.
