Postal votes close on October 16 for the by-election to fill the Central Ward seat after the death of long-serving community board member and former Christchurch city councillor Sally Buck.
Of the seven candidates - Clive Antony, Faimeh Burke, Celeste Donovan, Sunita Gautam, Wayne Hawker, Paul Lonsdale and John Stringer - only Hawker and Antony live in the Central Ward.
Central Ward city councillor Jake McLellan said it was more beneficial to live in the ward you intend to represent.
"It’s always better to live in the ward that you represent, and it’s an advantage, but not a necessity.
"The key thing living outside of the ward is to have an understanding of the local community and making those connections,” he said.
However, Antony did not see living in the area as being vitally important.
"It’s in the first line of the ballot paper whether candidates live in the area, so residents will take that into account if that’s important to them,” he said.
"But it’s something I don’t really pay too much attention to, and I’m not going to sit here and have problems with people wanting to run because they live outside of the area – at the end of the day it’s a contest of ideas.”
Voting for the community board by-election is by post and voters have until mid-October to do so.
Burke is attempting a political comeback and is no stranger to working in local government, serving as a board member for the Fendalton-Waimairi-Harewood Community Board between 2004 and 2016.
Her principal residence is outside of the Central Ward area, but she resided within the community board area in Heathcote, which she believes should not count against her in the upcoming by-election.
“I believe our key priorities are in the vitality and vibrancy of the Central Ward, quality roads and footpaths, flourishing businesses, safety, affordable rates, sustainability and waste reduction,” she said.
“I think the Central Ward is important to all of us who live in Christchurch, not only just to those that live in the CBD, so you don’t need to directly live there to serve it.”
