2025 Queenstown-Lakes District Council election

2025 Queenstown-Lakes District Council election

←  2022 11 October 2025 2028 →
Turnout	12,927 (41.16%)
Mayoral election
Mayor before election Glyn Lewers Independent Elected mayor John Glover Independent
Council election
12 seats on the Queenstown-Lakes District Council 7 seats needed for a majority
Party Seats +/– Independent 12 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

The 2025 Queenstown-Lakes District Council election was a local election held from 9 September to 11 October in the Queenstown-Lakes District of New Zealand as part of that year's nation-wide local elections. Voters elected the mayor of Queenstown-Lakes, 11 district councillors, and other local representatives for the 2025–2028 term of the Queenstown-Lakes District Council. Postal voting and the first-past-the-post voting system were used.

John Glover won the mayoralty, defeating incumbent mayor Glyn Lewers.

Key dates

• 4 July 2025: Nominations for candidates opened
• 1 August 2025: Nominations for candidates closed at 12 pm
• 9 September 2025: Voting documents were posted and voting opened
• 11 October 2025: Voting closed at 12 pm and progress/preliminary results were published
• 16–19 October 2025: Final results were declared. ^[1]

Background

Positions up for election

Voters in the district elected the mayor of Queenstown-Lakes, 11 district councillors in 3 wards, and the members of the Wānaka-Upper Clutha Community Board. ^[2] They also elected several members to the Otago Regional Council. ^{[a] [3] [4]}

List of candidates

Incumbents not seeking re-election

• Esther Whitehead, councillor for the Queenstown-Whakatipu ward ^{[5] [6] [7]}

Mayor

Candidate [8]	Affiliation [b]		Notes
Al Angus		None	Previously ran for mayor in 2022 [10]
John Glover		None	Hotel owner. [11] Ran in the 2023 Arrowtown-Kawarau by-election.
Nik Kiddle		Independent	Mayoral candidate in 2019 [12]
Glyn Lewers		None	Incumbent mayor since 2022 [6] [7]
Darren Rewi		None	Chair of Mana Tahuna Charitable Trust [13] [14]
Daniel Shand		Independent (Direct Democracy)	Previously ran for the mayoralty in 2022 [15]

Councillors

Queenstown-Whakatipu general ward

Queenstown-Whakatipu general ward will return four councillors to the district council. ^[2]

Candidate [8]	Affiliation [b]		Notes
Gavin Bartlett		None	Incumbent councillor [6] [7]
Stephen Brent		None	Lawyer and chair of 45South Community Foundation [16]
Aaron Cowie		Independent	[17]
Craig "Ferg" Ferguson		None	Incumbent councillor [7]
Jon Mitchell		Independent	Previously ran for the mayoralty in 2022 [18]
Rene Smith		None
Matt Wong		Independent	Incumbent councillor [7]

Wānaka-Upper Clutha general ward

Wānaka-Upper Clutha general ward will return four councillors to the district council. ^[2]

Candidate [8]	Affiliation [b]		Notes
Barry Bruce		None	Incumbent councillor [6] [7]
Lyal Cocks		None	Incumbent councillor [6] [7]
Craig Gasson		None	[19]
Niki Gladding		Independent	Incumbent councillor for the Queenstown-Whakatipu ward [20] [7]
Nicola King		None
Yeverley McCarthy		None
Quentin Smith		None	Incumbent deputy mayor [6] [7]
Cody Tucker		None	Incumbent councillor [6] [7]
Thorsk G Westphal		None

Arrowtown-Kawarau general ward

Arrowtown-Kawarau general ward will return three councillors to the district council. ^[2]

Candidate [8]	Affiliation [b]		Notes
"Q" (Samuel) Belk		None
Heath Copland		None	Previously ran for council in 2019 [21]
Lisa Guy		None	Incumbent councillor [6] [7]
Tim Manning		None
Melissa White		None	Incumbent councillor [6] [7]

Results

Overall turnout for this election was 41.16%, with 12,927 voting papers returned. ^[22]

With the final results, the following candidates were declared elected: ^[22]

Mayor

John Glover won the mayoralty, defeating incumbent mayor Glyn Lewers. ^[23]

Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%
	None	John Glover	4,599	35.6%
	None	Glyn Lewers	3,244	25.1%
	Independent	Nik Kiddle	2,108	16.3%
	None	Darren Rewi	1,671	12.9%
	None	Al Angus	874	6.8%
	Independent (Direct Democracy)	Daniel Shand	125	1%
Informal			36	0.3%
Blank			270	2.1%
Majority			1,355	10.5%
Turnout			12,927

Council

Queenstown-Whakatipu Ward

Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Matt Wong	2,287
	None	Gavin Bartlett	2,002
	None	Stephen Brent	1,924
	Independent	Jon Mitchell	1,689
	None	Craig 'Ferg' Ferguson	1,648
	Independent	Aaron Cowie	1,349
	None	Rene Smith	904
Informal			4
Blank			55
Turnout

Wānaka-Upper Clutha Ward

Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%
	None	Nicola King	3,610
	None	Quentin Smith	3,394
	Independent	Niki Gladding	2,863
	None	Cody Tucker	2,039
	None	Craig Gasson	2,005
	Independent	Yeverley McCarthy	2,005
	None	Lyal Cocks	1,667
	None	Barry Bruce	1,241
	None	Thorsk G Westphal	1,083
Informal			15
Blank			28
Turnout

Arrowtown-Kawarau Ward

Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%
	None	Heath Copland	1,927
	None	Melissa White	1,730
	Independent	Q (Samuel) Belk	1,703
	None	Lisa Guy	1,518
	None	Tim Manning	1,448
Informal			7
Blank			117
Turnout

See also

• 2025 Otago Regional Council election
• 2025 Dunedin City Council election

Notes

1. Four members in the Dunstan general constituency.
2. A candidate may leave their affiliation blank, run as an independent, or run with an affiliation to an organisation, local body ticket or political party. Queenstown-Lakes District Council does not allow whānau, hapū, or iwi details to be used for the affiliation. ^[9]

References

1. "Elections". Queenstown-Lakes District Council. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
2. "Voting". Queenstown-Lakes District Council. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
3. "Dunstan awarded extra regional councillor by Local Government Commission". Otago Regional Council. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
4. "Determination of representation arrangements to apply for the election of the Otago Regional Council to be held on 11 October 2025" (PDF). Local Government Commission. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
5. Newport, Peter (28 June 2024). "Esther Whitehead: Why I won't stand for council again". Crux. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
6. Newport, Peter (17 June 2025). "Quentin Smith considers QLDC mayoralty, other councillors declare their intentions". Crux. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
7. "Elected Members". www.qldc.govt.nz. Queenstown Lakes District Council . Retrieved 25 June 2025.
8. "2025 Triennial Elections | Queenstown Lakes District Council". electionz.com. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
9. "Pukapuka Aratohu Kaitonopōti | Candidate Handbook" (PDF). www.qldc.govt.nz. Queenstown-Lakes District Council. p. 15. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
10. Wards, Sue (11 July 2022). "Al Angus to stand for mayor again". The Wānaka App. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
11. "John Glover enters mayoral race with "hard reset" of QLDC". Crux. 7 April 2025. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
12. "Nik Kiddle to contest mayoralty". The Wānaka App. 3 June 2025. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
13. Taylor, Paul (9 July 2025). "Rewi steps forward". Lakes Weekly Bulletin. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
14. Rewi, Darren (9 July 2025). "Darren Rewi enters QLDC mayoral race". Crux. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
15. Jamieson, Debbie (2 September 2022). "The Queenstown Lakes mayoral race: Who will replace Jim Boult?". Stuff . Retrieved 30 July 2025.
16. Chandler, Philip (29 June 2025). "Lawyer puts hat in the ring". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
17. "QLDC candidate statement from Aaron Cowie". Crux. 19 July 2025. Retrieved 19 July 2025.
18. Roxburgh, Tracey (13 April 2022). "Mitchell running for mayor as independent". Otago Daily Times . Retrieved 30 July 2025.
19. "Wānaka's Craig Gasson to run for council". Lakes Weekly Bulletin. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
20. Newport, Peter (29 July 2025). "Niki Gladding to stand again for the QLDC". Crux. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
21. Hudson, Daisy (3 July 2019). "Accountant to run for Arrowtown seat on QLDC". Otago Daily Times . Retrieved 31 July 2025.
22. "2025 Triennial Elections DECLARATION OF RESULT" (PDF). www.electionz.com. Queenstown Lakes District Council . Retrieved 19 October 2025.
23. Todd, Katie (12 October 2025). "New Queenstown mayor: It's 'getting our own house in order'". RNZ . Retrieved 14 October 2025.