Auckland’s mayoralty race is over with a largely expected outcome of Phil Goff’s victory and appointment as the new mayor of the super city. He secured 179,206 votes and was followed by Vic Crone who received a decent 105,413 votes.
However, it was not Vic Crone rather Chloe Swarbrick—the youngest mayoralty candidate, who attracted much attention after Goff for receiving 26,474 votes. It will be interesting to know where she goes from here, and many political experts have already vowed to keenly follow her actions.
Outlining his immediate priorities, Goff pledged to tackle homelessness, the housing crisis and restoring public confidence in the council.
It was his choice of working for restoring public confidence in the council more than anything else that has surprised many analysts and many argued that Goff was still in the pre-election rhetoric mood.
His first couple of interviews after the election result has already given ammunition to some to think that Goff will find his transition from parliament to the council, not easy, if not tough.
Phil Goff has been in parliament since last three decades and has resigned from his long-held Mt Roskill seat, a seat that he has held right since it was created in 1999, soon after his appointment as Auckland Mayor.
While Auckland’s Indian community’s expectation from Goff is no different from other average Aucklanders who face the same pressing issues of rising housing prices, traffic congestion, a debilitating public transport system, and rising rates, yet it will not be indulgent to lay out community’s specific expectations from their new mayor.
There has been a long felt undercurrent within the Indian community that their community is not adequately represented within local governance and institutions of local public services as proportionate to their representation in Auckland’s multicultural population.
This is one single most expectation of the Indian community from their new mayor apart from other concerns shared by an average Aucklander.
Talking about Indian representation in the local council, it is important to note that most of the candidates of Indian origin, barring Shail Kaushal, have a less than satisfactory run in the Auckland council elections.
Shail Kaushal has been able to secure 6th position from Puketapapa Local Board and enjoys a tight lead of 187 votes before official result were scheduled to be announced on Friday, October 14.
Ella Kumar—Puketapapa Local Board (rank 3), and Dr Ashraf Choudhary—Papatoetoe Subdivision of the Otara-Papatoetoe Local Board (rank 3) have also been able to secure their positions.
This less than satisfactory run of candidates of Indian origin is reflective of the need for more proactive political engagement from the community.
Meanwhile, further down south in North Island, K Gurunathan tasted success and was elected as mayor of Kapiti Coast District Council. Gurunathan, a former journalist, and a two-term councillor, ran his campaign platform for councils to be open, transparent, and democratically accountable.