Local body election results were announced on Saturday, and it seems that Palmerston North has kept the cookers out! Mayor grant Smith was handily re-elected, and while progress results showed the Greens' Kaydee Zabelin losing her council seat to Labour's Zulfiqar Butt, the preliminary results (which included Saturday-morning voters) reversed that. Of course, it could change again in the final results as preferences shift on the specials, but its a good place to be in. Meanwhile, no outright cookers were elected (though cooker queen Jackie Wheeler is next in line and could still get in on special votes). But the council has shifted slightly right, with retiring leftish councillor Patrick Handcock replaced by keep rates low loonie Hayden Fitzgerald.
On Māori wards, its also good news, with Palmerston North voting decisively to say "fuck you" to the regime and keep its Māori ward. Horizons was looking like a failure on the progress results, but the preliminaries have reversed that, with "keep" now enjoying a 120 vote lead. So its going to come down to the special votes, due out at the end of the week.
