Triennial elections for all 73 cities and districts, twelve regional councils and all district health boards (DHBs) in New Zealand were held on 13 October 2007. Most councils were elected using the first-past-the-post voting method, but eight (of which Wellington City was the largest) were elected using single transferable vote.

STV voting method

The single transferable vote (STV) method was first used at the 2004 local elections, when ten districts and city councils employed this alternative to first-past-the-post voting (FPP). Of those ten, two district councils—Papakura and Matamata-Piako—reverted to FPP. The remaining eight councils that used STV in 2007 were Kaipara, Thames-Coromandel, Kāpiti Coast, Porirua, Wellington, Marlborough, Dunedin, and the Chatham Islands. All DHBs have been using STV since the 2004 local elections.

Results

New mayors were elected in Auckland City, North Shore City, Manukau City, Christchurch, Rodney District, Whangārei, Far North District, Nelson, Taupō, Stratford, South Taranaki District and Buller District. Voter turnouts were generally lower than normal for local body elections in New Zealand. Peter Chin was re-elected in the Dunedin mayoral election.

North Island