LOCAL GOVERNMENT RESULTS
Chris Knox (Herald): Find mayoral and election results on our interactive tool
Herald: Māori ward interactive: Did your region vote to keep them?
1News: Local elections live
RNZ: Local election blog: voting closes, early results released
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Ratepayers rout mayors who imposed big rises
Virginia Fallon (Sunday Star Times): Putting the meh into mayoralty: Voter turnout slumps to 36-year low (paywalled)
Tracy Watkins (Sunday Star Times): A mandate for the few, by the few (paywalled)
Torika Tokalau (Local Democracy Reporting): Auckland records lowest voter turnout for local elections
Eva de Jong, Bernard Orsman, Simon Wilson, Ethan Manera (Herald): Tight races and low turnout, who made it back and who was booted out?
Tim Murphy, David Williams and Laura Walters (Newsroom): Incumbent mayors ousted in the south but voters go for Wayne and Phil, the sequel
1News: Brown, Mauger re-elected as Little takes Wellington
Kelly Dennett (Post): Meet the mayors: Election day brings the expected, and a few upsets (paywalled)
Tom Dillane (Herald): Redemption for NZ’s youngest mayor, champagne lady falls flat
Kevin Norquay (Sunday Star Times): Meet your new mayor: big talk, just one vote (paywalled)
Gwynn Compton (Local Aotearoa): So, you’ve been elected: A former councillor’s survival guide
LOCAL GOVERNMENT - AUCKLAND
Simon Wilson (Herald): What will Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown do now? (paywalled)
David Long (Stuff): Wayne Brown’s emphatic Auckland win gives him mandate to take on Wellington, but runner-up has doubts
Wayne Brown (Herald): ‘Finish the job’: Wayne Brown’s letter to Aucklanders after winning second term as mayor
Jonathan Killick (Sunday Star Times): Brown’s town: Mayor’s plan for Auckland after historic win (paywalled)
Jessica Hopkins (RNZ): Wayne Brown returns as Auckland mayor, promising transport fixes
Herald Editorial: It’s time for Auckland to fulfil its potential (paywalled)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT - WELLINGTON
Andrea Vance (Sunday Star Times): Labour finds its pulse in Wellington, but don’t call it a comeback (paywalled)
Harriet Laughton (Post): Andrew Little’s new challenge as Wellington mayor (paywalled)
Tom Hunt (Post): The pipes, the controversies, the cycleways – how will this council be remembered? (paywalled)
RNZ: Wellington’s new mayor Andrew Little says Tory Whanau faced ‘toxic behaviour’
Ed Scragg (Stuff): Mayor Andrew Little to be joined on Wellington City Council by Ray Chung, but no place for Tory Whanau
Nick James (Herald): Andrew Little wins mayoralty bid in Wellington, Tory Whanau misses out on Māori Ward seat
Mary Afemata (Local Democracy Reporting): Ken Laban makes history as Pasifika candidates win across Aotearoa
Nick James (RNZ): Wellington satellite cities to explore amalgamation of councils
LOCAL GOVERNMENT - NORTH ISLAND
Karina Cooper (Northern Advocate): Tight Whangārei and Kaipara mayoral battles
Zita Campbell (Local Democracy Reporting): Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz provisionally re-elected as progress results come in
Mike Mather (Sunday Star Times): Ex-MP Tim Macindoe takes Hamilton mayoralty (paywalled)
Libby Kirkby-McLeod (RNZ): Late ‘Super Saturday’ voter turnout may yet swing Hamilton mayoralty
RNZ: Longest-serving councillor Trevor Maxwell extends 48-year tenure in Rotorua
Fin Ocheduszko Brown (Whanganui Chronicle): Andy Watson wins fifth term as Rangitīkei mayor
Mike Tweed (Whanganui Chronicle): Andrew Tripe re-elected as Whanganui Mayor
Stuff: Schollum claims Hastings mayoralty, but her closest rival hasn’t conceded
Linda Hall (Local Democracy Reporting): Hawke’s Bay voters decide to remove Māori wards on four councils from 2028 in referendums
Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard/Post): Palmerston North votes for mayor Grant Smith and Māori wards (paywalled)
Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard/Post): New Horizons councillor for Palmerston North (paywalled)
Emily Ireland (Local Democracy Reporting): Johnson leading Masterton’s mayoral race
Emily Ireland (Local Democracy Reporting): Steve Cretney leads the count in Carterton
Emily Ireland (Local Democracy Reporting): Dame Fran Wilde leads South Wairarapa mayoral race by sizeable margin
LOCAL GOVERNMENT - CHRISTCHURCH
Joanne Naish, Tina Law and Sinead Gill (Press): Landslides, disappointments and close calls for South Island mayors (paywalled)
Anna Sargent (RNZ): Re-elected Christchurch mayor to focus on debt, liveability
Sinead Gill (Press): Which councillors have won in Christchurch and who has lost their seat? (paywalled)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT - DUNEDIN
ODT: Barker claims Dunedin mayoralty by close margin
Tess Brunson (RNZ): Dunedin mayoralty on knife-edge with slim margin between two frontrunners
ODT: Six new faces on Dunedin council, five incumbents out
LOCAL GOVERNMENT - SOUTH ISLAND
Anna Sargent (Local Democracy Reporting): Lydia Gliddon wins Selwyn mayoralty from LGNZ president Sam Broughton
Jonathan Leask (Local Democracy Reporting): Liz McMillan the mayor-elect in Ashburton
ODT: Melanie Tavendale elected mayor of Waitaki
Grant Miller (ODT): ORC tilts right, Calvert re-elected
Joanne Naish (Press): Contender for ‘oldest tranny’ mayor in the world takes 64-vote lead (paywalled)
ODT: Gibson retained after ‘difficult campaign’
ODT: Tamah Alley wins Central Otago mayoralty in a landslide
ODT: ‘Ecstatic’: Ben Bell wins second term as Gore mayor
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): Nobby Clark’s controversial mayoralty draws to an end
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): ‘Delighted’: Campbell on track to win Invercargill
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): Rob Scott re-elected Southland mayor with large margin
Richard Davison (ODT): Not much change in Environment Southland results
PARLIAMENT, GOVERNMENT
Luke Malpass (Post): The centre-right now has a problem - and it is not small (paywalled)
Vernon Small (Sunday Star Times): Why Winston is running the smartest race (paywalled)
Dan Brunskill (Interest): National may have to make more concessions to NZ First after Election 2026, while Labour grapples with its own coalition of chaos
Steve Braunias (Newsroom): The secret diary of .. the Coalition Titanic
Henry Cooke (Sunday Star Times): The tricky throuple of the Opposition: The data behind each party’s politics (paywalled)
Henry Cooke (Sunday Star Times): Christmas coalition talks: Why a late election date is looking likely (paywalled)
Edward Willis: A four-year parliamentary term for New Zealand?
Brent Edwards (NBR): Bad and good numbers, Te Pāti Māori, signs of peace (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Billions on the line in Judith Collins’ digital government reboot (paywalled)
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): One MP, One Pint: Calling ‘bullshit’ on the government with Duncan Webb
Henry Cooke and Harriet Laughton (Post): An end of an era as Parliament’s travelators decommissioned (paywalled)
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): ‘Words matter’: A little play on words in Winston Peters’ CV
Harriet Laughton (Post): ‘You shouldn’t have to camp on Parliament’s lawn’: MPs urged to debate petitions (paywalled)
1News: Man charged over death threats made against MP
Jenni Mortimer (Herald): Paula Bennett on swapping Parliament for podcasting (paywalled)
TE PĀTI MĀORI
Mihingarangi Forbes (RNZ): Te Pāti Māori leaders claim broken trust abruptly ended ‘reset’ media stand-up
Adam Pearse (Herald): Te Pāti Māori: Back on track or on another collision course? (paywalled)
Jaime Lyth & Jamie Ensor (Herald): Labour’s Chris Hipkins says Te Pāti Māori needs to be accountable amid party troubles
Herald Editorial: Politicians of all stripes need to be accountable to the public, this includes Te Pāti Māori (paywalled)
1News: Speaker wants to meet Te Pāti Māori over contempt concern after disruption
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): The reset that wasn’t: Te Pāti Māori promises mostly business as usual
Henry Cooke (Post): Speaker says haka at maiden speech left him feeling ‘suckered’ (paywalled)
Louis Collins (RNZ): Oriini Kaipara’s maiden statement: ‘A product of Māori resilience’
GREENS
Samuel Sherry (Herald): Another senior Green Party staffer departs as Louis Day resigns from communications role
RNZ: Green Party loses another staffer
Steven Cowan: The Green Party: Real change or limited reforms?
Damien Grant (Stuff): Chlöe Swarbrick, how should we define her contribution to politics?
ASSET SALES, ECONOMY, COST OF LIVING
Amelia Wade (Sunday Star Times): Families miss out on FamilyBoost after being caught by quarterly income rule (paywalled)
RNZ: ‘Hock off the family silverware’: Labour criticises government plan to sell Chorus UFB securities
Amy Williams (RNZ): Selling Chorus securities is ‘hocking off’ debt not assets, Finance Minister says
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Government looks to cash out Chorus investment
Jamie Gray (Herald): Government’s Chorus investment could be worth more than $1.2 billion (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Government considers cashing-up remaining interest in Chorus (paywalled)
NBR: Govt looks to sell Chorus securities (paywalled)
John Weekes (Herald): Nicola Willis says Chorus sales money could go towards funding hospitals and schools, slams Orr’s $416k payout
Aimee Shaw (Post): Finance Minister says Chorus debt sale could fund Defence, hospitals, roads (paywalled)
Good Ideas: The Breakdown: wealth disparities between men and women, Māori and Pākehā, old and young (paywalled)
David Hargreaves (Interest): Bring on the summer of spending - what could possibly go wrong?
Shane Te Pou (Herald): My message to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon: Stop playing tough (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Here’s where Kiwis are spending their money in 2025... and where they’re not (paywalled)
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, TRADE
Marco de Jong (Newsroom): Network empire: how advanced military tech is reshaping Five Eyes
Phil Pennington (RNZ): NZ defence strategy explores space weapons export potential
Blayne Slabbert (Press/Post): From rockets to riches: NZ chases a trillion-dollar market (paywalled)
Helen Harvey (Taranaki Daily News/Post): Taranaki businesses eye up defence spending opportunities (paywalled)
Caleb Fotheringham (RNZ): Amnesty International wants NZ visa for climate-affected Pacific islanders
Kim Baker Wilson (RNZ): Singapore and New Zealand sign strategic partnership
PROTEST
Ryan Ward: The Left needs to do more than protest
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): The protests outside Winston Peters’ home were taken too far a long time ago (paywalled)
Ben Thomas (Post): Crowbar incident captures the worsening mood of politics (paywalled)
James Nokise (Post): The violence of protest and the politics of sympathy (paywalled)
ODT: Civis: Swarbrick culpable of hypocrisy (paywalled)
Bruce Cotterill (Herald): Protest at Winston Peters’ home shows how far debate has fallen (paywalled)
Ed O’Driscoll (1News): Man accused of smashing Winston Peters’ window pleads not guilty
RNZ: Man accused of smashing Winston Peters’ window pleads not guilty
Herald: Winston Peters’ partner injured by glass after window smashed in attack
Sam Smith (RNZ): Winston Peters’ partner injured by glass from window smashed in alleged attack
RNZ: NZ flotilla members detained by Israeli forces arrive back in Auckland