'An absolute privilege' Ria Hall congratulates Mahé Drysdale on ...

Singer-songwriter Ria Hall (Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui) has congratulated the presumptive Mayor Elect of Tauranga City Council, Mahé Drysdale.

With special votes and voting papers received today still to be counted, Drysdale is leading the race and looks set to become Tauranga’s mayor, more than 7,600 votes ahead of Hall back in fourth spot.

Tauranga City Council released the progress results this afternoon, which are the status of the mayoral race as of Friday 5pm, with 33,998 votes cast to that point:

Drysdale, a two-time Olympic champion rower, was one of 15 candidates vying for the top job in the Bay of Plenty city.

In a statement this afternoon, Hall said the race for the city’s mayoralty had been an “absolute privilege”.

“I have had the opportunity to speak with so many incredible people from across Tauranga City that support an inclusive and progressive vision for our place.”

“I want to thank every single person that has shared their time, vision and values for Tauranga City with me.”

She called the low turnout of Tauranga voters “disappointing”, with only 31.09 percent of eligible voters casting their ballot in this election.

“My ambition at the outset was to run a campaign that would ignite the hearts and minds of those that felt like a new direction and new leadership was required for Tauranga. I believe that I have achieved that outcome and despite not being able to bring those values to the Council table this time, I will continue to advocate for the voices within our place that want to see change.”

Preliminary results will be announced on Sunday afternoon and the final result on Thursday.

The election marks the first time Tauranga residents have been able to vote for their local leadership since a commission was appointed to govern the city in 2020.