Auckland City Council building Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski
Some high-profile candidates are putting themselves up for important roles in Auckland's local elections.
Several wards were already set to be hotly contested ahead of candidate nominations closing on Friday at noon.
This week, Mayor Wayne Brown announced two Hibiscus and Bays Local Board members, Victoria Short and Gary Brown, would contest the current Albany Ward councillors on his Fix Auckland ticket. Gary Brown ran against Wayne Brown in the 2022 mayoral race.
The mayor had previously clashed with Albany councillors John Watson and Wayne Walker.
In June, Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson announced she would stand again for the Ōrākei Ward, this time under Fix Auckland instead of Communities and Residents (C&R).
With the right-leaning local government party C&R ticket, former mayor Christine Fletcher would be campaigning to retain her seat as one of two Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa Ward Councillors, along with Puketāpapa Local Board member Mark Pervan.
Among the candidates they would be up against were current councillor for the area Julie Fairey and Puketāpapa Board member Jon Turner from the left-leaning City Vision ticket.
The Puketāpapa Local Board had recently been in the news over its controversial decision to remove an off-leash area at a popular Auckland dog park.
Also on the C&R ticket were school teacher and former local board member Tabetha Elliot for the Maungakiekie-Tāmaki Ward, and Malcom Turner for the Manukau Ward.
Turner came in third behind the area's current councillors, Alf Filipaina and Lotu Fuli, in the 2022 elections.
Filipaina and Fuli confirmed they would be seeking re-election to represent Manukau on the Labour Party ticket.
Current councillor Shane Henderson and Jess Rose would campaign for the Waitākere Ward under the left-leaning Future West banner.
The other sitting Waitākere Councillor Ken Turner would be going up against them, along with India New Zealand Business Council general manager Sunil Kaushal under the Westwards banner.
Wayne Brown and Desley Simpson. Photo: RNZ / Jessica Hopkins
ACT had also thrown its hat in the ring, announcing eight Auckland candidates under the ACT Local banner this week.
Barrister and solicitor, and Hibiscus and Bays Board member Samuel Mills would be ACT's Albany council candidate.
Real estate agent Henrietta Devoe was selected as ACT Local's Manukau Ward candidate.
There were also several hopefuls going for two Howick Ward councillor positions: current councillor Maurice Williamson, the owner of Times Media Bo Burns, ACT Local's Ali Dache, and controversial former MP Jamie-Lee Ross.
Vote Auckland was expected to publish a preliminary list of all candidates on Friday evening.
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