The race is on to find a mayor for each of Southland's three territorial councils, with multiple candidate nominations already received for each position.

Nominations for elected candidates to the Invercargill City, Southland and Gore Districts (mayor, council and community boards), as well as the regional council - Environment Southland, Invercargill and Mataura Licensing Trusts, and Gore & Districts Health Inc, all close at 12noon this Friday (1st Aug).

Invercargill City mayor Nobby Clark's signal that he won't be contesting this year's election has opened up the field to six mayoral candidates so far including incumbent councillors Ria Bond, Tom Campbell, Alex Crackett, Tom Morton and Ian Pottinger as well as past mayoral contender Stevey Chernishov.

Three contenders are currently running for Southland District mayor including incumbent Rob Scott, former district mayor Gary Tong and past mayoral contender Wendy Joy Baker.

Gore District has just two candidates currently nominated for the district's top job including sitting mayor Ben Bell and former Gore councillor Nicky Davis.

CLICK HERE to view the full list of candidate nominations.

Voting in the 2025 Local Body elections opens on 9th September and closes at midday on 11th October.