2025 Nelson City Council election

← 2022 11 October 2025 2028 →
Turnout	18,789 (48.14%)
Mayoral election
Candidate Nick Smith Aaron Stallard Affiliation Independent Independent Popular vote 10,957 6,898 Percentage 58.3% 36.7%
Mayor before election Nick Smith Independent Elected mayor Nick Smith Independent
Council election
13 seats on theNelson City Council 7 seats needed for a majority
Party Seats +/– Independents 12 0 Labour 1 +1 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

The2025 Nelson City Council election was a local election held from 9 September to 11 October inNelson, New Zealand, as part of that year'snation-wide local elections. Voters elected themayor of Nelson and 12 city councillors for the 2025–2028 term of theNelson City Council. Postal voting and thesingle transferable voting system were used.

Incumbent mayorNick Smith won re-election to a second term.

The council introduced aMāori ward at the 2022 election. In a referendum on its future held at this election, as part of anation-wide series of referendums, voters elected to keep the Māori ward.

• 4 July 2025: Nominations for candidates opened
• 1 August 2025: Nominations for candidates closed at 12 pm
• 9 September 2025: Voting documents were posted and voting opened
• 11 October 2025: Voting closed at 12 pm and progress/preliminary results were published
• 16–19 October 2025: Final results were declared.^[1]

This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(July 2025)

Voters in the city elected themayor of Nelson and 12 city councillors in 4 wards.

This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(July 2025)

• Matthew Benge, incumbent councillor^[2]
• Rohan O'Neill-Stevens, deputy mayor since 2022 and councillor since2019^[3][4]
• Rachel Sanson, incumbent councillor^[2]

Candidate[5]	Photo	Affiliation[a]		Notes
Richard Osmaston			Money Free Party New Zealand	Previously ran for the mayoralties ofWestland,Grey,Buller,Marlborough,Nelson, andTasman in2022.[7][8] Concurrently running for the mayoralties of four other councils:Tasman, Buller, Grey and Westland.[9]
Nick Smith			Independent	Incumbent mayor since2022[10][2][8]
Aaron Stallard			Independent	Incumbent councillor since 2022.[11][2] Also running for re-election as a councillor in the at-large ward.[12][8]
John Wakelin			Lower Rates	Previously ran for the mayoralty in 2019 and 2022[13][8]

WhakatūMāori ward will return one councillor to the city council.^[14]

The Central ward will return four councillors to the city council.^[14]

Candidate[5]	Photo	Affiliation[a]		Notes
Matty Anderson			Independent	Incumbent councillor[2]
Lisa Austin			Let's Be Ready for Tomorrow – Today	[15]
Lenny Blake			None
Jackie Galland			None
James Hodgson			Independent	Incumbent councillor[2]
Anton Hyman			None
Marie Lindaya			Weaving a Stronger Nelson for 2025
Sand McDougall			Independent
David North			None
Steph Phillips			Independent
Pete Rainey			Independent	Incumbent councillor[2]
Tilman Ward			Independent
Mike Ward			None	Previously ran for council in 2022[16]

The Stoke-Tāhunanui ward will return four councillors to the city council.^[14]

Candidate[5]	Photo	Affiliation[a]		Notes
Trudie Brand			None	Incumbent councillor[2]
Guy Coulson			None	Scientist (air quality)[17]
Mel Courtney			Independent	Incumbent councillor[2]
Sarah Kerby			Labour	[18]
Paul Lacy			None
Mike Nicholls			Independent
Valmai Palatchie			Independent	[19]
Dan Robinson			Independent
Campbell Rollo			Independent	Incumbent councillor[2]

Three councillors will be electedat-large to the city council.^[14]

Candidate[5]	Photo	Affiliation[a]		Notes
Chris Baillie			Independent	FormerACT MP (2020–2023)[20]
Anne Michele Dickinson			None
Susa Guhl			Independent
Jeremy Matthews			None
Keith Palmer			None
Nigel Skeggs			Independent
Tim Skinner			None	Incumbent councillor[2]
Aaron Stallard			Independent	Incumbent councillor since 2022. Also running for mayor.[12]
Graeme K Tyree			Independent

Overall turnout for the election was 48.14%, with 18,789 voting papers returned.^[21]

With the final results, the following candidates were declared elected:^[21]

Incumbent mayorNick Smith won re-election to a second-term.^[22]

Kahu Paki Paki was elected unopposed.

• 2025 Tasman District Council election

• 2025 New Zealand local elections
• Nelson City Council elections

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