2025 Napier City Council election

The 2025 Napier City Council election is an upcoming local election to be held from 9 September to 11 October in Napier, New Zealand, as part of that year's nation-wide local elections. Voters will elect the mayor of Napier and 11 city councillors for the 2025–2028 term of the Napier City Council. Postal voting and the first-past-the-post voting system will be used.

2025 Napier City Council election

← 2022 11 October 2025 2028 →
Turnout	TBD
Mayoral election
Mayor before election Kirsten Wise Independent Elected mayor TBD
Council election
All 12 ward seats on the Napier City Council
Incumbents before election Affiliation Seats Change   Independents 10   Working Together[a] 2
Popular vote share of winning councillors by ward

The council voted to introduce a Māori ward for this election; its future will be decided in a referendum on the issue, as part of a nation-wide series of referendums.

Key dates

• 4 July 2025: Nominations for candidates will open
• 1 August 2025: Nominations for candidates will close at 12 pm
• 9 September 2025: Voting documents will be posted and voting will open
• 11 October 2025: Voting will close at 12 pm and progress/preliminary results will be published
• 16–19 October 2025: Final results will be declared.^[1][2]

Background

Positions up for election

Voters will elect the mayor of Napier and 12 councillors from 4 wards. They will also elect 4 members of the Hawke's Bay Regional Council.^[b][3][4]

Campaign

Advertisements seen along Marine Parade

Māori wards referendum

A group called For Wards Hawke's Bay formed to support the pro-ward position at the referendums in the wider Hawke's Bay region. The group will hold a meeting on 23 July in Clive chaired by regional council chair Rex Graham, with various speakers including local Presbyterian minister Jill McDonald, Hastings Māori ward councillor Heather Te Au-Skipworth, HB Multicultural Society president Rizwaana Latiff and Hayley Whittaker from the Public Service Association.^[5]

Hawke's Bay Today asked the mayoral candidates whether they supported the group; mayor Wise said she had been working closely with them, Richard McGarth said he had no opinion on the group, and Nigel Simpson said he was no familiar on the group and that he was against Māori wards.^[6]

List of candidates

Incumbents not seeking re-election

• Maxine Boag, councillor since 2007^[7]
• Annette Brosnan, incumbent deputy mayor and fourth-term councillor^[8]
• Hayley Browne, councillor since 2019, is instead running for a seat on the Hawke's Bay Regional Council^[9]
• Chad Tareha, first-term councillor for the Taradale ward^[8]

Mayor

Candidate[10]	Affiliation[c]		Notes
Richard McGrath		Commonsense change, needs before wants	Councillor since 2014.[9][8] Also running for re-election as a councillor for the Napier Central general ward.
Nigel Simpson		Independent	Councillor since 2019, stood for the mayoralty in 2022 and lost to Wise.[12] Also running for re-election as a councillor for the Taradale general ward.
Kirsten Wise		Independent	Incumbent mayor since 2019[7]

Councillors

Te Whanga Māori ward

Te Whanga Māori ward will return two councillors to the city council.^[13]

Candidate[10]	Affiliation		Notes
Whare Isaac-Sharland		None	[14]
Kirk Kia-maia Leonard		None	[14]
Shyann Raihania		None	[14]

Ahuriri general ward

Ahuriri general ward will return three councillors to the city council.^[13]

Candidate[10]	Affiliation		Notes
Iain Bradley		ACT Local	[15]
Roger Brownlie		Independent	Retailer and orchardist[14]
Louise Burnside		Independent
Sally Crown		Experienced, Strong, Grounded	Incumbent councillor since 2019[7][8]
Karl Goodchild		Lower Rates	Previously ran for council in 2022[16]
Juliet Greig		None	Incumbent councillor since 2022[7][8]
Lyndal Johansson		Independent, fresh voice	[14]
Ben Newport		Independent
Keith Price		Independent	Incumbent councillor since 2010[7][8]

Napier Central general ward

Napier Central general ward will return three councillors to the city council.^[13]

Candidate[10]	Affiliation		Notes
Te Kira Lawrence		Independent	Previously ran for council in 2022[17]
Taiatini Lepaio		Independent	[14]
Greg 'Grego' Mawson		Working with you, for you	Incumbent councillor since 2019[7][8][14]
Richard McGrath		Your Community Representative	Incumbent councillor since 2014.[8] Also running for mayor.
Craig Morley		Get back to basics

Taradale general ward

Taradale general ward will return three councillors to the city council.^[13]

Candidate[10]	Affiliation		Notes
Ronda Chrystal		Independent	Incumbent councillor since 2019[7][8][14]
Terry Cornish		None	Semi-retired businessman[14]
Nigel Simpson		Independent	Incumbent councillor since 2019.[8] Also running for mayor.
Graeme Taylor		Independent	Incumbent councillor since 2010[7][8][14]

Results

Final results are expected to be released by 19 October.

Mayor

Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%
1 mayor, to be determined
Informal
Blank
Turnout
Registered

Council

Ward	Previous		Elected
Te Whanga Māori	new			to be determined
	new
Ahuriri general		Hayley Browne (Ind.)
		Keith Price (Ind.)
	new
Napier Central general	new
	new
	new
Onekawa-Tamatea		Annette Brosnan (WT)	abolished
		Richard McGrath (WT)	abolished
Nelson Park		Maxine Boag (Ind.)	abolished
		Sally Crown (Ind.)	abolished
		Juliet Greig (Ind.)	abolished
		Greg Mawson (Ind.)	abolished
Taradale general		Ronda Chrystal (Ind.)
		Nigel Simpson (Ind.)
		Chad Tareha (Ind.)
		Graeme Taylor (Ind.)	abolished

Te Whanga Māori ward

Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%
2 councillors, to be determined
Informal
Blank
Turnout
Registered

Ahuriri general ward

Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%
3 councillors, to be determined
Informal
Blank
Turnout
Registered

Napier Central general ward

Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%
3 councillors, to be determined
Informal
Blank
Turnout
Registered

Taradale general ward

Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%
3 councillors, to be determined
Informal
Blank
Turnout
Registered

Referendum

Choice	Votes	%
Keep Māori ward	to be determined
Abolish Māori ward
Turnout

See also

• 2025 Hastings District Council election

Notes

1. Working Together for Onekawa Tamatea
2. • 3 representing the city exclusively.
   • 1 representing the wider region from a Māori constituency.
3. A candidate may leave their affiliation blank, run as an independent, or run with an affiliation to an organisation, local body ticket or political party. Napier City Council does not allow whānau, hapū, or iwi details to be used for the affiliation.^[11]