Labour’s Barbara Edmonds had a 7,050-vote lead in Kenepuru late on election night, while National’s Tim Costley was 1,675 votes ahead in Kāpiti, leaving Porirua voters following two different contests under the new electoral boundaries.
The Electoral Commission’s preliminary results, checked at 10.16pm NZDT on Saturday 7 November, showed Edmonds on 12,470 electorate votes and National’s Matthew Evetts on 5,420 in Kenepuru. Green candidate Lan Pham was third on 1,860.
That count included 39 of 61 results. Neither those figures nor the more advanced Kāpiti count included special votes, and neither electorate had a final result.
The change of electorate names matters locally. Under the final boundary review, Kenepuru includes Porirua city centre, Tītahi Bay and eastern Porirua suburbs as far as Papakōwhai, as well as Tawa and Johnsonville in Wellington.
Areas around Whitby, Pāuatahanui and Pukerua Bay are in Kāpiti, which continues north to Ōtaki. The new Kenepuru and Kāpiti electorates replaced the previous configuration of Mana, Ōhāriu and Ōtaki, so old electorate totals are not like-for-like comparisons.
In Kāpiti, Costley had 18,130 votes against Labour candidate Sophie Handford’s 16,455, with 46 of 62 results counted. Green candidate Melody Willis had 1,556 and New Zealand First’s Penny Gaylor 1,260.
Labour led the party vote in both electorates at the same check. In Kenepuru it had 9,442 party votes, ahead of National on 4,174 and the Greens on 3,493. In Kāpiti, Labour had 12,056 party votes to National’s 10,857, even as Costley led the electorate contest.
For Porirua voters on the Māori roll in Te Tai Hauāuru, Te Pāti Māori’s Debbie Ngarewa-Packer led Labour’s Te Pūoho Kātene by 3,413 votes. Ngarewa-Packer had 12,897 and Kātene 9,484, with 352 of 464 results counted across the whole electorate. These are electorate-wide figures, not a Porirua-only tally.
The official count will include special votes, including overseas votes, and checks of the ordinary votes counted tonight. The remaining votes can change both totals and margins, so the present leads should not be read as declared wins.
The Commission aims to publish official results on Friday 27 November. For now, Porirua’s central and eastern suburbs are following Edmonds’ lead in Kenepuru, while residents in the city’s Kāpiti electorate areas await the outcome of the closer Costley–Handford contest.
File photo: Electoral Commission. Source image. CC BY-ND 3.0.