Greater Wellington — By-election 2026

Wairarapa General Constituency By-election

Due to a vacancy caused by the unexpected death of Councillor Adrienne Staples, we are holding a by-election for the Wairarapa General Constituency.

Further Notice of By-election - Wairarapa General Constituency

Read more here

Published 12 Jun 2026

Download now (PDF 205 KB)

Notice of By-election – Wairarapa General Constituency

A by-election is required to fill an extraordinary vacancy for the Wairarapa General Constituency of the Greater Wellington Regional Council. Read more here

Published 11 May 2026

Download now (PDF 141 KB)

General information about the By-election

Information for the Wairarapa General Constituency By-election 2026

Read more here

Published 12 May 2026

Download now (PDF 139 KB)

Confirmed candidates

Nominations have closed. The table below provides details of confirmed candidates. Candidates appear in the order that their nominations were received.

Click on the name of the candidate to view their profile statement and photo.

Candidate name	Affiliation	Phone number	Email
Alistair Plimmer		027 254 7824	alistair.plimmer@gmail.com
Amber Craig	Your voice. Our Wairarapa. Real action	027 255 5663	amber@tahetoka.nz
Colin Olds		027 432 9951	fstnmc@gmail.com
John Hart		027 438 4727	john@hart.nz
Jill Greathead		027 488 4376	jillgreathead@gmail.com
Michael Birch	Independent	027 492 8366	mbirch321@gmail.com

Enrol to vote

If you are enrolled on the General Parliamentary electoral roll and live in the Wairarapa General Constituency, you are eligible to vote in this by-election.

More information on enrolling to vote in elections is available on our Enrol page.

You may also be eligible to enrol as a non-resident ratepayer elector. Please contact elections@gw.govt.nz to receive an enrolment form.

Voting will be conducted by postal vote, using STV, with candidates listed in random order.

Vote

Voting documents will be delivered from 20 July, with voting commencing from 20 July. Voting closes Friday 21 August 2026 at 12noon.

Voting method

This by-election is being conducted using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) method.

Voters rank candidates in order of preference. When votes are counted, all the first preferences are allocated first. To be elected a candidate must reach a “quota” of votes. The quota is based on the number of vacancies and the number of valid votes. A candidate who reaches the quota is elected.

If a candidate does not meet the quota after first preferences are allocated, the candidate who received the fewest votes is eliminated and each vote for that candidate is transferred to the voter's second preference. This process is repeated until a candidate meets the quota.

You do not have to rank all candidates, but for your vote to be counted there needs to be a single '1'. After that the numbers you use must be in sequence.

More information on STV can be found at:

Te Tari Taiwhenua | Department of Internal Affairs

electionz.com demo

Voting locations

This election is conducted by postal vote. A map of NZ Post and DX Mail receptacles is below. Please post your vote by Friday 14 August 2026.

Alternatively, there are marked orange bins in a variety of locations for you to drop your completed vote into. These are available until 12noon on Friday 21 August 2026 during usual business hours.

The map below provides the locations for returning your vote:

Orange pins - orange voter bins
Blue pins - NZ Post and DX Mail receptacles
Grey pins - hand delivery to district council offices and special voting

Key Dates

Date (2026)	Activity
Thursday 14 May	NOMINATIONS OPEN Electoral roll opens for public inspection
Thursday 11 June	NOMINATIONS CLOSE (12noon)
Thursday 11 June	Preliminary roll closes
ASAP after 11 June	Public Notice of confirmed candidate(s) and whether election is required
Monday 20 July	VOTING OPENS Delivery of voting documents commences
Monday 20 July	Progressive roll scrutiny Early processing period starts Special voting period starts
Friday 21 August	ELECTION DAY Voting closes 12noon
Friday 21 August	Counting commences - progressive and preliminary results announced
Monday 24 August (estimated)	Official declaration of election result
Monday 19 October (estimated)	Return of electoral expenses and donation forms

Information for Candidates

Greater Wellington's Candidate Handbook Local Government Elections 2025

Read more here

Published 25 Jun 2025

Download now (PDF 1.2 MB)

Wairarapa General Constituency Donations and Expenses Return 2026

Read more here

Published 12 May 2026

Download now (PDF 93 KB)

If you require an Appointment of Scrutineer form, please contact elections@gw.govt.nz

Official Information Requests

Greater Wellington is required to respond to information requests in accordance with the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA). Any information supplied to a candidate as part of a response to an official information request will be shared to all candidates as soon as possible after the original information release (with the requestor's information redacted).

Greater Wellington will publish all candidate official information requests to our website, and you can see them here:

Wairarapa By-election LGOIMA

How to become a candidate

As part of the nomination process you will need to:

Complete the nomination form
Get two people to nominate you – they must be over 18 and enrolled in the Wairarapa General Constituency area
Pay a nomination deposit of $200 – you may get a refund depending on how many votes you received
Submit a photo and candidate profile statement (optional but recommended)