Ella Kumar was re-elected to the Puketāpapa Community Board in 2022 to become the sole member of Indian origin elected to a local body position. Photo: RNZ / Blessen Tom
More than 60 candidates of Asian heritage have put their hands up to contest seats in upcoming local board elections in Auckland.
In doing so, they're seeking to improve on the representation the community achieved following the 2022 elections, where few candidates of Asian origin won seats.
In total, 369 candidates are attempting to win seats on local boards in Auckland, with voting opening on 9 September.
According to Auckland Council, 477 candidates are competing for 172 positions at all levels - the highest number of nominations since 2013.
Auckland's 13 wards are represented by 20 ward councillors. The councillors and the mayor form Auckland Council's Governing Body.
Individual parts of Auckland are led at community level by 21 local boards, each represented by five to 11 members. There are 149 elected board members in total.
According to Auckland Council, the number of Asian candidates has risen above other minority groups for the first time since 2016.
Interestingly, 16 percent of the 385 candidates who responded to Auckland Council's demographic survey claimed Asian heritage.
Of these, 46 percent claimed Indian descent, 39 percent Chinese, 7 percent Indo-Fijian, 3 percent Eurasian, 2 percent Malaysian and 2 percent Laotian.
In 2022, Ella Kumar was re-elected to the Puketāpapa Community Board to become the sole member of Indian origin elected to a local body position.
Kumar has been representing local boards in Auckland since 2010.
Former Labour MP Ashraf Choudhary, who was born in Sialkot, Pakistan, was the only other South Asian member to win a local body seat in Auckland at the 2022 elections after being re-elected to the Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board.
Kumar and Choudhary are contesting their respective positions again this year.
Former National Party electoral candidate for Kelson Bala Venu Beeram has also decided to try his hands at local politics, standing alongside Kumar as a candidate for Puketāpapa Community Board.
Eight local board members of Chinese descent in Auckland are seeking re-election: Peter Chan (Henderson-Massey), Fiona Lai (Puketāpapa), Albert Lim (Ōtara-Papatoetoe), Jack Tan (Albert Eden), Raymond Tan (Kaipātiki), David Wong (Ōrākei), Sylvia Yang (Upper Harbour) and Peter Young (Howick).
Chinese New Zealanders Bobby Shen and Susan Zhu have decided not to seek re-election after winning seats on the Puketāpapa and Whau local boards, respectively.
Hoping to take Zhu's place on the Whau Local Board is another person of Chinese origin, Almo Wong, alongside Kiwi Indians Aadil Basha, Jitesh Ganatra and Madhavi Nyayapati. The quartet is contesting seven available seats with 12 other candidates.
An interesting battle is looming over the Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board (Papatoetoe Subdivision), with eight Asian candidates contesting four seats against five other candidates.
Former Green Party candidate for Manukau East Raj Pradeep Singh has joined Choudhary in the contest for a seat on the board, who, like Beeram, is hoping to win a seat in local politics for the first time, albeit on a Labour ticket.
Highlighting community board races with a large number of Asian candidates, Howick Local Board (Flat Bush Subdivision) and Henderson-Massey Local Board come a close second, with at least six Asian New Zealanders contesting three and eight seats, respectively.
Meanwhile, five Asian candidates are competing against eight others for six seats on Upper Harbour Local Board.
Asian candidates are standing for seats in the above areas due to the large ethnic communities that typically live there.
In Auckland, almost 15 percent of the country's Indian population is equally divided between the adjoining local board areas of Howick and Otara-Papatoetoe, according to Census 2023.
Mangere-Otahuhu (3.1 percent), Manurewa (5.7 percent), Papakura (5.3 percent) and Franklin (1.7 percent) local board areas also house a little over 15 percent (15.8) of the Indian population.
This means almost a third of New Zealand's Indian community has made the suburbs of south Auckland their permanent base.
The Indian population is also substantial in West Auckland, with about 15 percent of the country's Indian population living in the local board areas of Henderson-Massey (4.5 percent), Whau (5.2 percent) and Puketapapa (4.4 percent).
In terms of New Zealand's Chinese communities, local boards on Auckland's North Shore house a little over 20 percent of the country's Chinese population, while the Howick Local Board area has about 15 percent.
Looking at Auckland's northern boards in more detail, 7.3 percent of New Zealand's Chinese population live in the Upper Harbour Local Board catchment area, 4.9 percent in Hibiscus and Bays, 4.3 percent in Kaipatiki, 3.1 percent in Devonport-Takapuna and 1.1 percent in Rodney.
