{"id":569550,"date":"2026-08-15T05:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T05:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/569550\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T05:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T05:48:11","slug":"far-north-councillors-parliamentary-bid-may-force-100k-by-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/569550\/","title":{"rendered":"Far North councillor’s parliamentary bid may force $100k by-election"},"content":{"rendered":"

Far North ratepayers could face a $100,000 by-election if Kerikeri-based councillor Davina Smolders<\/a> resigns to pursue a parliamentary career.<\/p>\n

By Susan Botting, Local Democracy Reporter<\/p>\n

Smolders told Local Democracy Reporting on August 4 that she would resign from the Far North District Council if she secured a position in the top 10 or 11 places on Act’s party list for the general election.<\/p>\n

However, Far North Mayor Moko Tepania said he had yet to receive any formal notification from Smolders about her central government plans.<\/p>\n

An Act party spokesperson confirmed Smolders had been selected as a list candidate for the election and indicated she had “informed the Far North District Council of her intentions”. <\/p>\n

Act intended to release its party list in September. The party won 11 seats at the last election after securing 8.67% of the party vote. <\/p>\n

The 1News-Verian election poll<\/a>, released on August 12, showed the party on 9%, enough for an estimated 11 seats.<\/p>\n

Far North District Council acting general manager community and engagement Ken Lewis said a by-election in the Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Ward, during the 2026-27 financial year, would cost about $100,000.<\/p>\n

Smolders, who announced in late July she was standing as an Act list candidate, did not respond to further questions from Local Democracy Reporting about her parliamentary ambitions. <\/p>\n

Questions included why she had not informed the Mayor of her intentions, whether discussions had been held about the implications of a possible resignation, and when she would resign if she secured a top 10 or 11 placing on the party\u2019s list.<\/p>\n

Smolders is serving her first council term after being elected in 2025 in the hotly contested Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Ward under an Act Local banner. <\/p>\n

The ward’s three seats went to Ann Court (3677 votes), Smolders (2299) and Kelly Stratford (2260). Tyler Bamber narrowly missed out with 2065 votes.<\/p>\n

\"Far<\/p>\n

Far North District councillor Davina Smolders has claimed the council’s appointment of unelected members to its committees was “unlawful”. (Source: rnz.co.nz)<\/p>\n

When is a by-election triggered?<\/p>\n

Councils are required to hold a by-election if a councillor resigned more than 12 months before the next local election, which is due to be held in October 2028.<\/p>\n

“This must normally be done within 103 days of the Electoral Officer receiving notice of the extraordinary vacancy,” Lewis said.<\/p>\n

If a vacancy occurred between September 14 and November 20, 2026, a by-election could not be held before March 3, 2027.<\/p>\n

If a councillor resigns within 12 months of the next local election, the law does not allow for a by-election.<\/p>\n

Instead, the council must either appoint a qualified replacement or leave the seat vacant until the election.<\/p>\n

Councillors who have headed to Parliament<\/p>\n

A move to Parliament by Smolders would echo that of former Bay of Islands-Whangaroa councillor Willow-Jean Prime.<\/p>\n

Prime was first elected to FNDC in 2013 and served two terms.<\/p>\n

While a councillor, she unsuccessfully contested the Northland electorate for Labour in 2014.<\/p>\n

Prime was re-elected to council in 2016 before successfully entering Parliament as a Labour list MP in the 2017 election.<\/p>\n

Prime resigned from council about a year into her second term, triggering a 2018 by-election that was won by Stratford.<\/p>\n

Standing as a candidate in a general election does not affect a councillor’s position on a local authority, and a candidate can continue serving on the council.<\/p>\n

Te Hiku Ward councillor Felicity Foy, who has served on the FNDC since 2019, unsuccessfully contested the Northland electorate as National’s candidate at the 2023 general election before being re-elected to council in 2025.<\/p>\n

Lewis said a councillor elected to Parliament could choose to remain on the council.<\/p>\n

A person doing this would need to make a decision on whether they had capacity to perform both roles, he said.<\/p>\n

Blenheim councillor Jamie Arbuckle entered Parliament as a New Zealand First list MP in October 2023 while serving on the Marlborough District Council.<\/p>\n

Arbuckle retained both roles for about a year, arguing an earlier resignation could have saddled ratepayers with a by-election costing more than $130,000.<\/p>\n

The dual role later attracted political scrutiny, with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon<\/a> raising concerns about MPs simultaneously holding another elected office amid debate over public perception and so-called “double-dipping”.<\/p>\n

While former Far North Mayor John Carter had lengthy careers in both Parliament and local government, the two did not coincide.<\/p>\n

Carter served as Northland’s MP until 2011 and was elected Far North Mayor two years later in 2013, meaning he never held both offices at the same time.<\/p>\n

The general election will be held on November 7.<\/p>\n

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Far North ratepayers could face a $100,000 by-election if Kerikeri-based councillor Davina Smolders resigns to pursue a parliamentary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,1067,69],"class_list":["post-569550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}