The Department of Internal Affairs recently published its 2025 Local Elections Statistics report, providing detailed insights into voter behaviour and other electoral trends across the country.
Clutha District Council’s Lawrence-Tuapeka ward registered a 70% turnout for its community board election, second only to Chatham Islands Council, at 71.5%.
The impressive figures contrast with an overall downward trend nationally, where an average of only 40% of voters exercised their democratic privileges.
That compared to 41% last triennium, and 53% 30 years ago, in 1995.
The Lawrence-Tuapeka figures were highlighted by Clutha chief executive Steve Hill during yesterday’s council meeting in Balclutha.
The ward has a population of 2010, and covers an area of 2323sqkm.
Mr Hill said a 70% turnout spoke to the strength of local democracy in the district.
He alluded to council representation reviews, which sometimes questioned the usefulness of community boards.
‘‘Aside from the Chathams, that’s the best in the country, for Lawrence-Tuapeka’s community board.
‘‘Perhaps it tells us something about the importance of community boards to residents in the areas they cover.’’
The report also provided insights into changing council composition.
The overall proportion of female elected members in local government increased from 39% to 41% in the most recent elections, up from 30% in 2010.
The increase last year came against a backdrop of a slight drop in female candidates, from 38% to 37%.
Community boards once again led the charge for balanced representation, where 46% were women. Only 27% of mayors were female, from 29% of mayoral candidates.
Although the nationwide average drop in turnout could be seen as cause for concern, the report cautioned the results were skewed by the size of the Auckland electorate.
‘‘The downward trend in 2025 turnout is driven by the low turnout for Auckland Council, which decreased from 35% in 2022 to 29% in 2025.
‘‘Due to the significant size of Auckland Council compared to all other councils, any decrease in turnout for [them] will influence the overall turnout. If [their] result is excluded from the national figure, council turnout would be 45%,’’ the report said.
