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The 2013 Christchurch mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections and was won by former MP Lianne Dalziel. The elections were held on 12 October 2013 for the Mayor of Christchurch plus other local government roles. Incumbent Bob Parker announced 14 months prior to the election that he would seek a third term as mayor. There was much speculation for many months over who would challenge Parker. Dalziel's name was persistently mentioned, but she denied any interest, declaring instead that the job that she really wanted is Gerry Brownlee's as Earthquake Recovery Minister, rather than Bob Parker's. Three first term councillors were also rumoured, with Tim Carter seen as the most likely to come forward. In April 2013, Christchurch's main newspaper, ''The Press'', announced that Dalziel would stand, having asked Student Volunteer Army organiser Sam Johnson to be her running mate. This caused surprise since Dalziel and Johnson are from opposite ends of the political spectrum, but he declined the invitation anyway. It was not until mid June that Dalziel confirmed her candidacy. At the same time, serious problems developed at Christchurch City Council (CCC) over building consent issues, which led to Parker withdrawing his candidacy and council's chief executive, Tony Marryatt, losing his job. In early August, central city retail manager Paul Lonsdale announced his candidacy and was immediately credited by ''The Press'' as the most viable alternative to Dalziel, but senior journalist Lois Cairns predicted the following day that Lonsdale "will come in a distant second". Dalziel, the former Labour Party MP for Christchurch East and up to the election the representative of the Christchurch East electorate, had been in Parliament since and was considered the top favourite. Of the remaining ten candidates, ''The Press'' labelled them a mixture of eccentrics, tryers and also-rans. Dalziel won the election with nearly a 50,000 votes margin and a majority of 48%, with Lonsdale receiving nearly 23,000 votes. Lonsdale also stood for a position as city councillor and was successful on that front. The third placed mayoral candidate received a mere 1,000 votes. Dalziel and the new council were sworn in on 24 October. ==Candidates== ;2012 and earlier Since the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, there were persistent rumours that Labour Party MP Lianne Dalziel would contest the 2013 Christchurch mayoralty. Dalziel had first been elected to Parliament in the , representing first Christchurch Central and since the Christchurch East electorate. In May 2012, Dalziel tried to put an end to the rumours by announcing: "The job I really want is Gerry Brownlee's, rather than Bob Parker's." Brownlee was Earthquake Recovery Minister, whilst Parker was then Mayor of Christchurch.〔 In August, Parker announced that he would seek a third term as mayor. Due to the controversy caused during his mayoralty, the general expectation had been that he would not seek re-election. There was confidence in the neighbouring areas that Selwyn District and Waimakariri District Councils had responded well to the earthquakes, but the same could not be said for Christchurch City Council (CCC). Former National Party cabinet minister Philip Burdon called Christchurch Council's response a "dysfunctional failure". CCC had commissioned an external communications review in 2012, which found that the council was seen as having a "can't do attitude", and that it was commonly agreed that the organisation was not customer focussed. The report concluded: Christchurch City Council is an isolated "fortress" which is "culturally reluctant" to communicate openly with its city's inhabitants At the time of Parker's announcement, the main Christchurch newspaper, ''The Press'', published a list of other likely candidates. Dalziel was understood to be backing prominent businessman Humphry Rolleston.〔 Rolleston was on the board of several companies that were listed on the stock exchange and until 2004 had been in business with Allan Hubbard. In the second half of the year, former mayor Garry Moore actively sought media exposure and when asked about his career aspirations replied: "I spent 15 years of my life on the council and it worries me where democracy is heading in Christchurch." ''The Press'' listed three sitting councillors who had possible mayoral aspirations: Peter Beck, Tim Carter, and Glenn Livingstone. All three were in their first term, with Beck first elected in a February 2012 by-election.〔 In a follow-up article in November, ''The Press'' added Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce chief executive Peter Townsend and radio host Mike Yardley to the list of potential mayoral candidates. ;2013 In the February 2013 reshuffle of opposition portfolios, Dalziel dropped out of the top 20; only the first 20 positions are ranked by the Labour Party. An editorial in ''The Press'' speculated that she might reconsider her political future: The demotion is bound to concentrate Dalziel's mind on whether she should run for the Christchurch mayoralty. As things stand, a place for her in a Labour cabinet as minister for the earthquake recovery looks unlikely, but she would be a strong candidate for mayor. By March, Parker was still the only person who had declared their candidacy. An editorial in ''The Press'' discussed two possible opponents: Tim Carter and Lianne Dalziel. Carter is from Christchurch's richest family, with his father Philip topping the local rich-list, and there has been a long-running political interest in his family. Philip Carter was a Christchurch city councillor from 1989 to 1995, David Carter, a brother of Philip Carter, is the current Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, and their father Maurice Carter was a Christchurch city councillor from 1956 to 1989. On 10 April, Carter was hosted by ''The Press'' for a livechat event, where questions put to Carter by readers were answered online by him. Whilst Carter said that he would only make a decision whether to stand in the coming weeks, the newspaper commented that his answers were campaign-style, that he used "fait accompli-language", and that he had "launched a pre-election broadside at mayoral incumbent Bob Parker". ''The Press'' reported on 20 April that Lianne Dalziel will challenge Parker for the mayoralty, and that she had asked Student Volunteer Army organiser Sam Johnson to be her running mate, with a view of Johnson becoming deputy mayor. The newspaper expressed surprise by this pairing, given that Dalziel is a Labour Party member, and Johnson is a member of the Young Nats, the youth arm of the National Party. Johnson declined the invitation, and Dalziel maintained that she was not yet committed to standing, saying that it required the right team to be formed. Speaking at the annual general meeting of the Christchurch East Labour Party electoral committee some days later, she expressed her disappointment at Johnson having declined her invitation. Meanwhile, Labour's deputy leader, Grant Robertson, confirmed that Dalziel had been open to the party hierarchy about considering the Christchurch mayoralty, and that the party had giving her the freedom to make any decision about her future. Carter announced on 24 April that he would not contest the mayoralty, but that he would endorse Dalziel instead. This followed several meetings between him and Dalziel that "left him convinced she was the best person for the job". Dalziel, meanwhile, had still not confirmed that she would stand in the election. Carter reiterated in mid-July that he would not stand for the mayoralty, and announced that he may indeed retire from the city council altogether. Vicki Buck and Garry Moore, the only two ex-mayors alive, were reported in early June as both considering running as councillors in the local elections, but both ruled out standing for the mayoralty; Buck also ruled out standing for the deputy-mayoralty. Buck confirmed that she had been meeting regularly with Dalziel, and Moore commented of Dalziel announcing her mayoralty bid as "reasonably high". Moore and Buck both expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the current council, with Moore saying:〔 Vicki and I have been sitting weeping into our coffees for the last couple of years. We have looked at all our hard work and thought: 'My God, what's happening?' This is not a place for show ponies, it's a time for carefully thought through strategic thinking. Moore's comment was a swipe at Parker, who is by many referred to as a "show pony". Parker, meanwhile, was rumoured by ''The Sunday Star-Times'' to retire at the end of the term, which he immediately denied. On 19 June, Dalziel formally confirmed that she would contest the mayoralty, also announcing that she would resign from Parliament with effect from the day prior to the mayoral election, which would cause a by-election in the Christchurch East electorate. Dalziel stated that she would not run for Labour, but that she would contest the election as an Independent. Despite Dalziel's earlier claims that she had to form a strong team first before she would stand, she declared that she would not form a team and did not have a 'running mate', i.e. deputy mayor. After a troublesome period starting in mid-June, Christchurch City Council lost its accreditation with International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) for issuing building consents, and council's CEO, Tony Marryatt, was placed on indefinite leave on 3 July. On Friday morning, 5 July 2013, ''The Press'' was working on a feature article for the first opinion poll and phoned Parker and Dalziel for their reactions on the 30% and 70% respective poll results. Later that afternoon, Parker gave an exclusive interview to John Campbell in which he announced that he would not stand for re-election. The interview was screened on ''Campbell Live'' that evening.〔 On 1 August, Hugo Kristinsson joined the mayoralty contest. He was an IT specialist from Iceland who came to Christchurch in 1995. On 9 August, Christchurch businessman Paul Lonsdale announced his candidacy for a position as councillor in the Hagley-Ferrymead ward, and as mayor. Lonsdale was regarded by the local paper, ''The Press'', as "the most viable alternative yet to Lianne Dalziel" and was endorsed by Parker for his "many fine qualities". Lonsdale was best known as the driving force behind the Re:START mall project, and was previously the manager of Riccarton Mall. Lonsdale works closely with property developer Antony Gough, who is the current chairman of the Central City Business Association, and Gough's preference was for Lonsdale to only contest a city council position, as Dalziel "is the frontrunner by a country mile". In an opinion piece, senior journalist Lois Cairns credited Lonsdale as the person with the best name recognition yet who can challenge Dalziel, but that he was not likely to be able to keep up with her campaign: "In all likelihood Lonsdale will come in a distant second." ''The Press'' asked candidates about their five key issues, to which 10 of the 12 nominated candidates replied. In a commentary, the newspaper stated: With sitting Mayor Bob Parker out of the contention, the contest is effectively Lianne Dalziel's to lose. She faces some competition in the form of prominent business figure Paul Lonsdale, but the other 10 candidates are a mixture of eccentrics, tryers and also-rans. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Christchurch mayoral election, 2013」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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