Green candidate Geordie Rogers wins council by-election

Wednesday, 21 February 2024

Green candidate Geordie Rogers has won the council by-election, ahead of his rival candidate Karl Tiefenbacher by just 45 votes.

The final results of the Wellington City Council’s Pukehīnau/Lambton General Ward by-election were announced today. The results showed Rogers ahead by 45 votes, with 4147 votes to Tiefenbacher’s 4102.

“The main thing I’m thinking about today is the people who came before us in these movements, representing their local communities, like the late Efeso Collins,” Rogers said this afternoon.

“I’m thankful and excited that people have put their faith in me.”

The seat was left vacant when Tamatha Paul resigned after winning the Wellington Central seat in the general election as a Green MP.

Centre-right independent Tiefenbacher was named the provisional winner over the weekend, with a initial 621-vote lead over Green Party candidate Geordie Rogers. However, this later shrank to a margin of just 164 votes, with 564 special votes yet to be counted.

The result has totally flipped since provisional results on Saturday, after the counting of on the day votes and 537 special votes.

Tiefenbacher was approached for comment about the final by-election results but did not respond.

Rogers credited the turnaround in results with some last-minute door-knocking and groundwork by the Green campaign, who were determined to let people know that the by-election was happening.

The overall turn-out of just 25% was disappointingly low, Rogers said. Every vote was important when it came to a margin of just 45 votes.

Major issues going forward were housing and where it was being built, Rogers said. He was an advocate for upzoning in the city as opposed to greenfields development on new land at the edges of the city.

He would have a future focus on the council, he said, and would be working hard over the next week to get up to speed with current issues ahead of his first council meeting next Thursday.

Tiefenbacher, who campaigned on cutting spending, was a vocal opponent of Let’s Get Wellington Moving’s plans to limit vehicle access to the Golden Mile, and was a signatory to the open letter from Wellington’s business community critiquing the plans.

He campaigned as an independent voice who could work with both sides of the politically divided council.

Voter turnout was about 24% of the 33,723 enrolled voters in the ward – which centres on central Wellington, Te Aro and surrounding inner-suburbs.

Rogers will be sworn in as a city councillor next Thursday.