Council candidates welcome briefing

EIGHT prospective candidates for the Manawatu District Council’s 2010 elections attended a special briefing session last week on election processes and the roles of councils and elected members.

Electoral Officer, Warwick Lampp, was pleased with the session and said the candidates showed a healthy interest in the processes required and had asked some good questions.
He said the briefings were especially good for first-time candidates.

“The election process is pretty prescriptive,” said Mr Lampp, “and there are some things that candidates can get horribly wrong or can trip them up.”

Deputy Electoral Officer, Janine Hawthorn, said it was the first time in a number of years that MDC had gone solo with such a session, having previously combined with Palmerston North City Council, and it was likely to be repeated in future elections.
“Those attending felt there was a lot of benefit to be gained,” she said, “especially in obtaining more detail on information in the candidates’ handbook and to have their questions answered first-hand.”

Six candidates have already responded since nominations for this year’s elections opened on July 23:
District Mayor: Steve Gibson, Ian McKelvie.

Councillor (Feilding Ward): Joyce Bailey, Steve Gibson, Tony Jensen, Klayne Leitch.
Councillor (Kairanga Ward): Howard Voss.

The nomination period runs until noon on August 20. Electors will receive their voting documents from Friday, September 17, with completed forms to be returned by noon on Election Day, Saturday, October 9.