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What's being reviewed

The review decides how councillors and community board members are elected for the 2028 and 2031 elections. Some things are already settled and are not part of it.

What the review decides

  • How many councillors Ruapehu has. The law allows between 5 and 29, plus the Mayor.
  • How councillors are elected: across the whole district, by local wards, or a mix of both.
  • If there are wards: how many, their names, their boundaries, and how many councillors each elects.
  • The Māori ward: how many councillors it elects, and whether it stays at district-wide. The number of Māori ward councillors is set by a formula in the law, based on the Māori electoral population and the number of councillors elected from wards.
  • Community boards: whether Ruapehu has them, and if so how many, the areas they cover, their names and their membership.

What is already settled

  • Whether Ruapehu has a Māori ward. The binding poll at the 2025 elections decided Ruapehu keeps its Māori ward for the 2028 and 2031 elections.
  • The voting system. In August 2026, Council resolved to keep Single Transferable Vote for the 2028 elections.
  • What community boards are delegated to do. Council sets this separately from the review.

How decisions are tested

Every proposal must provide fair and effective representation. The Local Government Commission's guidelines ask councils to consider:

  1. Communities of interest: the communities people belong to, and the places they rely on for everyday needs.
  2. Effective representation: the right number of councillors, elected in a way that serves those communities well.
  3. Fair representation: where there are wards, each councillor should represent roughly the same number of people, within 10% of the average.
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