United Future candidate Pete George and Dunedin businesswoman Ali Copeman were among those to add their names to the list of candidates contesting the Dunedin City Council's 11-seat Central Ward yesterday.
Mr George was United Future's Dunedin North candidate in 2011, while Mrs Copeman, who runs a conference management company, was named as Greater Dunedin's ninth and last DCC candidate for the upcoming election.
Both announced their intentions in media statements yesterday, although Mr George's name was yet to appear on the official list of confirmed nominations for local body elections in Dunedin.
By late yesterday afternoon, the list showed three mayoral and 15 city council candidates standing in Dunedin, while another 17 candidates were seeking community board seats.
Electoral officer Pam Jordan said the number of confirmed nominations at this stage was similar to that at the same point before the last election, in 2010. Then, a last-minute rush boosted the totals to seven mayoral and 47 council candidates, as well as 41 community board contenders.
''It tends to be probably more than half of them come in the last week.''
The three Dunedin mayoral candidates to complete their nominations so far were incumbent Dave Cull and challengers Kevin Dwyer and Andrew Whiley.
Mr Cull is standing only for mayor - not as a city council candidate as well.
Four others to announce plans to challenge Mr Cull for the mayoralty - Cr Lee Vandervis, Olivier Lequeux, Green Party candidate Aaron Hawkins and former Act New Zealand MP Hilary Calvert - were yet to complete their nominations.
In the Central Ward, incumbent deputy mayor Chris Staynes and Crs John Bezett and Teresa Stevenson had so far been joined by Messrs Dwyer and Whiley, Mrs Copeman, Kevin Neill, David Benson-Pope, Warren Voight and Neville Peat.
Another candidate, Tat Loo, had also completed the formal nomination process, although his name was yet to be added to the list.
In the Mosgiel-Taieri Ward, incumbent Cr Kate Wilson, Martin Dillon and Mike Lord have been confirmed to fight for the two available seats.
Another incumbent, Cr Andrew Noone, was the only confirmed candidate listed for the single-seat Waikouaiti Coast-Chalmers Ward.
Other candidates have announced plans to run for council seats but are yet to complete their nominations. They have until until midday on Friday, when nominations close.
Postal voting will begin on September 20 and finish on
October 12, when polls close at midday.
