Friday's emergency meeting was at times fiery and fractious. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Kaipara councillors have voted to lodge a complaint with the Department of Internal Affairs about what Mayor Craig Jepson says are irregularities in the election process.
The final vote was taken behind closed doors this morning after a tense, often fiery debate.
But there was no repeat of Thursday's scenes when an elderly protester approached the council table and refused to sit down, prompting Jepson to adjourn the meeting after just 25 minutes.
Four police officers and three security guards were present for Friday's continuation, along with about 20 members of the public.
Like Thursday, councillors questioned whether the complaint warranted an emergency council meeting, given that election complaints could also be lodged up to three weeks after final results had been declared.
Some councillors also questioned whether sending a complaint to the DIA made sense, given that the department did not have jurisdiction over elections.
Four police officers, and three security guards, kept an eye on the meeting. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf
What was new today was that some details of Jepson's concerns emerged.
They included allegations that some election officers were related to candidates; questions about the 21 chosen locations of mobile voting places; and whether voters had been influenced at some of those voting places.
However, chief executive Jason Marris said he was confident the council had run a "robust and proper" process.
"There have been issues raised, small issues I have to say, and they have been addressed."
One complaint had been referred to Dale Ofsoske, the electoral officer, who had referred it to police, Marris said.
Ofsoske, addressing the meeting via audiovisual link, said he was comfortable with the way Kaipara's election had been run.
"I've run elections for 40 years, this has been no different to any other election I've run."
Deputy Mayor Jonathan Larsen, and current front runner in the mayoral race with a margin of just five votes, addresses the media. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Deputy Mayor Jonathan Larsen - who is currently leading the mayoral race by a razor-thin five-vote margin - raised the prospect of delaying the release of the final result until the complaint had been resolved.
That was met by a chorus of loud booing from the public.
Larsen asked Ofsoske whether the DIA had the power to pause an election, if the result had been called into question.
Ofsoske said the final result would be announced late on Friday regardless, and only the courts - not the DIA - could intervene in an election.
"It will be proceeding. Not to do so would be breaking the law," he said, prompting cheers from the public gallery.
It also emerged that the mayor had requested a list of all electoral officers involved in the Kaipara election, but Ofsoske had refused, citing safety reasons.
Wairoa Ward councillor Eryn Wilson-Collins called the meeting "a travesty". Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Debate over whether to vote behind closed doors was especially heated, with Mayor Jepson at one point apologising to Ash Nayyar, another mayoral candidate, after saying he was tired of dealing with three years of nonsense from him.
Nayyar refused to take part in the final vote, instead waiting outside until the meeting was over.
The margin of the vote, which took place in public excluded, is not yet known.
Kaipara's mayoral race is one of the closest in the country, with only five votes between Larsen and second-placed Snow Tane, a prominent iwi leader from Dargaville.
Jason Smith, a two-times former mayor, is just 26 votes further behind.
Friday's final result will include as many as 500 special votes.
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