By Justin Tuburan
The region’s mayors are sending their congratulations to National’s Scott Simpson after being reelected in the Coromandel for a sixth time in a row.
The 15 year long serving MP was given an undeniable majority earning 54.9% of the candidate vote, with Labour’s Glen Bennet far behind in second with 17.7%, followed by the Green’s Pamela Grealey at 10.7%.
Hauraki District Mayor Toby Adams sends Simpson his congratulations, telling CFM the result is “quite commanding”, adding that it shows “he has the ear of the community”.
Similarly, Thames-Coromandel District Mayor Peter Revell says Simpson has built a good relationship with his council.
“Since I have been mayor, Scott has done well in helping our council gain access to ministers of the crown which has helped lift and improve our profile with central government”
He adds that if the coalition is indeed back in power following the special votes being released, “I would expect that Scott will continue to be an advocate for us and our causes in Wellington”.
As for where this unsure election result leaves Simplifying Local Government, Mayor Adams says it’s a waiting game.
“I think we would’ve been naive to think that was not still a real possibility going forward but now we will just wait for a government to form once all the votes are counted”.
The coalition government decided to postpone decisionmaking on proposals until after the election.
Mayor Revell says he now doesn’t expect local government reform to progress "until well into the new year”.
He says “if the coalition as it stands is returned it seems that SLG may not be on the first 100-day agenda - it currently isn’t on National’s”.
The preliminary results of Saturday’s election show a right-leaning block of National, ACT, and New Zealand First with a slim majority of 67 seats in a 131 seat parliament - where 66 seats are needed to form a government.
The Electoral Commission says almost 400,000 special votes are still to be counted with the final vote count being revealed on November 27.
Until then however, it is unknown which side of the political spectrum will be in a position to form the next government.
