Mayoralty in limbo with three in tight race

The Southland mayoralty will remain in limbo until Thursday as the results remain too close to call.

Lumsden businessman Rob Scott is in the lead, ahead by 18 votes of former Federated Farmers president Geoffrey Young, with the incumbent, Gary Tong, a further 15 votes back in third place.

The much-anticipated results of the tight race in the Southland District elections were released late last night after being expected to be announced that morning.

Mr Tong said despite his placing he was simply relieved they were released at all.

‘‘It’s been a hell of a 24 hours. It’s been a fairly brain-numbing time, for not only the candidates but the media and the people who voted as well.’’

‘‘The numbers are still pretty close, so I’m not going to concede.’’

Despite his own placing, he said he was still happy to see Mr Scott in the lead.

‘‘He’s certainly done the hard yards in local government and he’d do a very good job as the mayor of the Southland District.

Speaking to the Otago Daily Times on Saturday, Mr Scott said he was expecting it to be a close race, ‘‘but I must say I'm wearing out the soles of my shoes by pacing up and down’’.

At home with friends and supporters, he said he was happy to be back on council and there was nothing he would have done differently during his campaign.

‘‘I'm happy with whichever way it goes.’’

Mr Young said he always thought it would be a close race between the current three as the number of candidates had split the vote, he said.

‘‘I'd like to be a lot further ahead of the pack, but I believe there could be still up to 1000 votes to count by the look of it, so they could change quite significantly.’’

‘‘A lot of farmers, they've put the votes in at the last minute - we'll just have to wait and see.’’

Southland District Council governance legal manager Robyn Rout said the progress result did not include some special votes and votes that were still in transit to the processing centre, meaning the outcome may change once all votes have been counted.

“It’s been great to see the large number of people putting their names forward, meaning elections were required in most cases. We’re pleased, too, that the voter turnout is higher than for the previous election,” she said.

A final announcement is expected by Thursday. The voter return was 47.6%, being 10,013 votes, excluding special votes.

- By Ben Tomsett