Marcus Lush, of Bluff, has been elected to the Invercargill City Council, after voting in the by-election closed at midday today.

Progress results show Mr Lush has been the successful candidate with 7003 votes out of the 13,991 votes which have been counted thus far.

Mr Lush was still letting the fact he had won the by-election sink in when the Southland App called him at 2pm, but was planning to celebrate with his partner Vanessa and sons Denver (5) and Tracker (7) by going into town for an ice cream.

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Despite not all votes being counted before noon, Lush has an unassailable lead on the other eight candidates.

Former councillor Wayne Harpur was trailing in second place, with 1457 votes.

“I can’t believe it . . . I was worried I didn’t do enough door knocking,” Mr Lush said.

Mr Lush said chief executive Clare Hadley rang him about 1pm to let him know he was the winner.

“I was sort of in shock. I didn’t expect to hear before 2pm.”

Mr Lush said it was too early to know what his schedule would be from here on.

“I presume there will be meetings with the council to work out where to go from here. This is brand new challenge for me. It is quite an exciting start. I am stoked,” he said.

Mr Lush said he had not been able to plan anything while he was waiting to find out the by-election results and was now looking forward to getting things done.

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During the by-election campaign, Mr Lush told the Southland App he was “completely independent without vested interest or baggage. I have a huge love of Southland and a nationwide profile to promote it”.

On the topic of communication and the fractured relationship with the council as identified by independent governance reviewer Richard Thomson, Mr Lush said: “I am a professional communicator, great team builder, fast on my feet and sharp as a tack. I will attend every council meeting (I was shocked to read in the report the lack of attendence by councillors.)”

The top three projects he wanted to see the council achieve this term were:

“a) . . . the council become a viable and sustainable unit, without the need for more external reviews and babysitters, and to prevent being replaced by statutory management.” 

“b) Retention and attraction of high calibre of staff in the council, as the report shows a huge vulnerability in this area.  

“c) A functioning and harmonious council. Without this, all of the “stone in the shoe” issues and projects our council needs to achieve will remain unresolved. I would love to be sitting at the table coming up with a plan to resolve the many infrastructure issues our city has.”

Deputy electoral officer Michael Morris clears a ballot box at the Invercargill Civic Building this morning. PHOTO: Supplied

Deputy Electoral Officer Michael Morris said Mr Lush received more than half of the votes counted.

“While special votes still need to be counted, as well as any votes dropped off to our ballot boxes today, the margin between the candidates is significant enough that we are confident Mr Lush will be your next councillor,” Mr Morris said.

It is not yet known how many votes have been cast today, being the final day of the by-election, however the return rate thus far has been 34.86 per cent of eligible voters.

FINAL RESULTS

LUSH, Marcus 7,371

HARPUR, Wayne 1,534

EDWARDS, Simon 1,134

MULROONEY, Kevin 1,115

DOWNEY, Tom INDEPENDENT 1,028

POTTINGER, David 975

DEVINE, Wade 894

HEENAN, Carl 432

GOLDSMITH, Bernadine 146

INFORMAL 42

BLANK 29

Marcus LUSH is declared elected.

The voter return was 36.58%, being 14,700 votes.