Outgoing Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson Photo: NZME
Outgoing Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson has called an emergency meeting just 24 hours before the final result of the cliff-hanger election is due to be announced.
The notice states the purpose of the meeting scheduled for tonight is to "approve a complaint and request for an investigation into the conduct of the 2025 Kaipara District Council local government election and 2025 Northland Regional Council Māori constituency referendum".
The intent is also to "authorise the mayor on behalf of the council to lodge the complaint and request for an investigation with the relevant authorities".
The nature of the complaint is not yet clear.
With special votes yet to be added, current deputy mayor Jonathan Larsen - who Jepson has endorsed as his successor - is just five votes ahead of his closest rival, iwi leader Snow Tane, and 31 votes ahead of a two-times former mayor Jason Smith.
The mayor has requested the meeting be held behind closed doors in Mangawhai, but that has yet to be confirmed.
The meeting is being called under a rarely used section of the Local Government Act that allows the mayor to call an emergency meeting without the usual three-day notice period required for an extraordinary meeting.
The current standings in the mayoral race, according to the preliminary count, are Larsen, 3170 votes; Tane, 3065; Smith 3039; and Ash Nayyar 1256.
'All this stuff's been building'
Jepson told RNZ he wanted the complaint to be backed by a majority of council members, "because of the improprieties that have occurred throughout the district with this whole election".
It was particularly important that people could trust the process because the margin in the mayoral race was down to single digits.
"I haven't got a crystal ball as to as to the final results tomorrow, so it's not about sour grapes … There's a wider issue for this country surrounding the integrity of the process undertaken to run an election, and that's got to be ensured to be fair and honest."
Asked about the timing of the meeting - just 24 hours before final results were due to be announced - Jepson said it was because more information had been coming to hand as days went by.
"All this stuff's been building, more and more people have been telling me about the issues they've seen. And at the end of the day, what do you do? Do nothing? Or do something?"
Jepson said he had been informed of "all sorts of improprieties".
"Whether they are, that's another matter that needs to be investigated."
They included an iwi organisation "taking over" a voting booth in Whangārei.
That affected Kaipara residents because voters there were having a say on the future of the Northland Regional Council's Māori constituency.
Jepson said his own position was secure, because he was not contesting the mayoralty, only a council seat.
Preliminary results show he has comfortably won one of three seats in the Kaiwaka-Mangawhai Ward.
He has, however, previously endorsed Larsen as his successor.
In the Northland Regional Council Māori constituency referendum, the results so far are 30,967 to remove the two Māori seats and 29,589 to retain them.
The notice was sent on Wednesday afternoon to chief executive Jason Marris and all current councillors.
The Kaipara District Council has said the final election result, including special votes, will be released on Friday evening.
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