Businessman Grant Smith, the Palmerston North city councillor tipped in a Manawatū Standard Versus poll to be the city's next mayor, has won the by-election.
The election night results were announced in the city council chamber last night by electoral officer John Annabell.
Smith, 48, made his first bid for the council in 2013, entering the by-election race prompted by Jono Naylor's resignation last year when he was elected to be a National list MP.
Smith said the hard work would begin tomorrow, with a meeting with chief executive Paddy Clifford already booked in.
Smith will be officially installed as the mayor on Monday.
Moments after his by-election success was announced, Smith said the victory felt surreal, although he had kept positive throughout the campaign.
With three councillor colleagues defeated but pledging their support, he said the task now was to build the council into a team that would put Palmerston North first.
He edged out three other city councillors for the top job – long-serving members Lew Findlay and Vaughan Dennison, and second term councillor Tangi Utikere.
His final vote count in the single transferable vote election was 11,469, ahead of Utikere on 9249.
Annabell said eight iterations of the voting cycle took place.
The voter turnout was 42.8 per cent, an improvement on the 38.7 per cent return in the October 2013 local body elections in Palmerston North.
There were five contenders from outside the council.
A keen sportsman, Smith was a leading light in the Save the Turbos campaign, attracted World Squash events to the city, and is on the Manawatū Rugby Board.
He has run a "winning team" campaign, with backing from fellow councillors Duncan McCann and Leonie Hapeta, and with financial help from a member of Palmerston North's Higgins family.
Smith launched his campaign with a promise for an hour's free car parking in the central city.
Smith is married to Michelle and has two children.
A by-election to fill Smith's seat on the council will be held in May, at the earliest.
PRELIMINARY RESULTS
SMITH, Grant - 11469 votes - 8th iteration
UTIKERE, Tangi - 9249 votes - 8th iteration
FINDLAY, Lew - 5625 votes - 7th iteration
DENNISON, Vaughan - 3511 votes - 6th iteration
PETRENAS, Bruno - 1864 votes - 5th iteration
PUGMIRE, Sue - 1001 votes - 4th iteration
SYMES, Abi - 467 votes - 3rd iteration
EGAN, Martin - 310 votes - 2nd iteration
BARBER, Ross Easton 118 - 1st iteration
Source: Manawatū Standard
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