Local Elections 2025 – Winners, Losers + Predictions

The local council elections saw a pitiful 35% turn out which was lower than the previous low point of 40%!

This isn’t voter apathy, it’s voter antipathy – how can any council pretend to have any mandate when barely a third voted?

In 66 mayoral races, nearly half elected a new mayor based on high rates rise revolts – rate rises that were ironically caused because this Government dismantled 3 waters and pushed the costs onto locals – how is 3 Waters looking now rednecks?

Who do you feel more sorry for, anyone who was forced to appear in a Hobson’s Pledge Billboard or the $90 000 Rolex that Ray Chung had put aside to buy when he won the Wellington Mayoralty?

There are of course political winners and losers.

 

Winners:

Weaponised Voter Apathy: People hate how rigged local elections are now that they refuse point blank to vote. The rich get multiple votes in multiple elections thanks to their holiday batches and multiple properties, the voting process is rigged against the poor and renters who are more transient and right wing arsehole astro turf organisations funded with Dark Ag money take over the narrative. Better to refuse the masquerade of participation for legitimacy and starve the pricks of any mandate whatsoever.

 

The 2 private companies running these joke elections:

The vast number of Kiwis do not known that our local democracy has been privatised to just 2 private companies, it is NOT run by the Electoral Commission!

• Election Services – an Auckland-based company that runs elections for Auckland Council and several other North Island councils.

• electionz.com – a Christchurch-based company that provides election services (including postal voting and online voting systems) for many South Island and some North Island councils.

Look at the impact of privatising local elections over that time on participation rates:

• 1992–1998: turnout in the 50–55% range.

• 2001 (Local Electoral Act introduced, outsourcing becoming the norm): turnout dropped to ~47%.

• 2004–2010: around 43–49%.

• 2013–2019: fell further to 39–42%.

• 2022: hit a modern low of ~36% nationwide.

• 2025 – barely 30%

Ever since we privatised our local elections, turn out has crashed, and that’s because these two private companies don’t care about the participation rate, they care about making money on their contracts!

By outsourcing our local elections to private companies, we have destroyed our participation rates, it is time to remove all contracts from these two companies and take the elections back into the Electoral Commission and run them with the same level of funding we run National Elections!

Klan Wards:

The racist anti-Māori ward debate led by Hobson’s Pledge and managed by the Taxpayers’ Union has made the following Councils racist redneck scumbags by voting against Māori wards:

• Whangarei District Council
• Hauraki District Council
• Thames-Coromandel District Council
• Matamata-Piako District Council
• Waikato District Council
• Waipa District Council
• Ōtorohanga District Council
• Western Bay of Plenty District Council
• Taupo District Council
• Hastings District Council
• Napier City Council
• Central Hawke’s Bay District Council
• Tararua District Council
• Rangitikei District Council
• Manawatu District Council
• New Plymouth District Council
• Stratford District Council
• South Taranaki District Council
• Horowhenua District Council
• Tasman District Counci
• Marlborough District Council
• Northland Regional Council
• Hawke’s Bay Regional Council
• Horizons Regional Council
• Taranaki Regional Council

The white man marches on!

Dark Ag Money: They have had a field day by manufacturing redneck talking points of ‘da Maaaarees is stealing da (fill in whatever here) to ensure their interests dominate local councils. You have to give it to them, they know how to manipulate Kiwis.

 

Hobsons Pledge: Cracker wins again to make sure 19th Century White Settler Privilege dominates the local council agendas. It is a banjo twanging redneck cross burning jamboree and everyone who isn’t brown is invited.

ACT Party: Managed to get 10 of their self funded cretinous candidates elected to start their attacks on any local issue that aligns with what ever culture war party trick David Seymour is attempting.

NZ Initiative: Manage to hide their interested by calling for candidates with ‘business experience’ so they can strangle local democracy.

The Atlas Network: The playbook is destroy indigenous rights so resources can be exploited. It has been taken from Canada and adapted for Australia and New Zealand.

Dr AI Bryce Edwards: While he still jaw droopingly publishes Chris Trotter and refers to him as ‘left’, Bryce has probably had one of the best insights into why the local elections went the way they did and highlights the influence of right wing astro turf organisations masking their interests and polluting the outcome. I’ve started taking notice of his work again, his AI columns are like an academic on viagra.

Mass Surveillance: Maybe an arsehole like Wayne Brown is the Mayor that a city of arseholes deserves, but I don’t think most Aucklanders, beaten into political apathy by a gridlocked City that is dying, appreciate what Wayne Brown winning the Mayoralty will actually mean to them.

The vast, vast, vast swathe of Auckland has NO IDEA the roads are about to be privatised.

They are just trying to grind out a living during a cost of living crisis in a gridlocked city AND THEN they will be told they are being charged for that

The bullshit used to support congestion charges are that when they are adopted it sees a decrease in emissions and traffic, but in every single city they have tried this in they have high density public transport, in Auckland we have shit public transport!

Congestion charges will only cause more poverty and misery because there isn’t any fucking public transport infrastructure.

When Aucklanders get blindsided by this, they will scream for blood and demand to know who did it, so your starting hatred should go to the Boomer King, then National, then ACT, then NZF, then Labour and then the Greens.

The fact congestion charges will enable a mass surveillance of the transport network hasn’t even been considered yet.

Culture War Boomers: The Chris Trotter’s of the world will love that a Boomer arsehole like Wayne Brown has been elected and that da Maaaarrees got the bash. The snide put downs of the next generation of Aucklanders is all the Culture War Boomers have now as the next generation flee the city and country to get away from them. Let’s hope whatever Filipino nurse is brought in to look after them in the dementia ward steals from them.

 

Losers:

Ray Chung and his $90 000 Rolex: He put a $90 000 Rolex on hold as a celebration for when he won the Wellington Mayoralty.

Bhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahah hahahahahahahahahahahahahah hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahah hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahah hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahah hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahah hahahahahahahahahahahahahah.

Everyone appearing in Hobsons’ Pledge Billboards: Hobsons’ Pledge people know no actual Māori so had to keep stealing Māori to appear in their billboards.

Democracy: Thanks to private companies running rigged processes alongside Dark Ag money flowing into the campaign, democracy ultimately is the loser and the damage this next generation of small government freaks empowered by Culture War Boomers will cause our communities will be immense.

 

Predictions:

Since we privatised the elections to just two companies in the 1990s, participation rates went from 55% to 32%. It is time for us to dump the privatisation of our local elections and actually have the Electoral Commission do them with the same level of resource we do with national elections.

Before 2022 we only had 3 Māori Wards and after this we now have 20, so that’s progress!

Online voting will simply open us to hacking from Russia, China or North Korea and make local elections forever corrupted.

Dr Bryce Edwards notes that right wing astro turf groups were highly effective in pushing their messages and ACT gained 10 seats – when will the Left be able to match the influence of these right wing groups is the real question.

The damage the Right have inflicted upon local democracy is brutal and demands the Unions and Civil Society Institutes step up as the counter weight.

 

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