Familiar political faces fight new battle for community board by-election

Thursday, 22 December 2022

Shreejana Chhetri, pictured at a Black Lives Matter march in June 2020, quit a Christchurch community board after 17 days, triggering a $75,000 by-election.

Two former councillors and a political hopeful who missed out in October’s local election are fighting for a community board seat left vacant after a winning candidate quit less than three weeks into the job.

Seven people are contending a position in the Innes ward, part of the Waipapa Papanui-Innes-Central community board in Christchurch.

Among them are two-term city councillor Mike Davidson, who lost his council seat in the Papanui ward in October, the community board’s former chairperson, Ali Jones, and Mark Wilson, who missed out on a spot on the board after coming third in the elections.

The winner will replace Shreejana Chhetri, the Labour-aligned candidate who finished second to take one of two seats on the board.

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Ali Jones, a former councillor, missed out on a seat at the council table by eight votes to Pauline Cotter during October’s elections.

She resigned 17 days after being elected, citing personal reasons, triggering a $75,000 by-election.

The 25-year-old probation officer told voters she had a strong calling to give back to the city, but later told Stuff she needed to balance that with maintaining a job to support her family.

Nominations for the Innes ward closed on Thursday, and voting is between January 26 and noon on February 17.

Jones spent nine years on the board representing Innes but had not sought re-election, instead running for a spot on the city council.

She ultimately lost to now-deputy mayor Pauline Cotter by eight votes following a recount.

Davidson lives in the Papanui ward, but is contesting the Innes ward seat after losing to newcomer Victoria Henstock, who won 64.5% of the vote.

Harrison McEvoy, who won 4% of the vote for the community board in October, is also re-running.

Moazzem Hossain, Garry Neale and Mahlon Saumalu have also thrown their hat into the ring.

The part-time community board role remuneration is $23,690, the job involving between 10 and 20 hours of commitment a week.

The Innes ward by-election is not the first to be called since the October 8 election.

Westland councillor Ian Hustwick resigned after 10 days, telling Stuff he realised his personal beliefs would get in the way of doing the job. That by-election will cost around $15,000.