Jules Radich has been unsuccessful in being re-elected as mayor. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
The Dunedin mayoralty is on a knife-edge with thousands of votes left to be counted and a slim margin separating the two frontrunners.
Incumbent Jules Radich has confirmed his bid for a second term was unsuccessful, marking the first big city mayor to lose their seat.
Councillor and former deputy mayor Sophie Barker was the lead, with challenger Andrew Simms only 105 votes behind on Saturday evening.
It followed the city recording its highest single day of voting returns this election with roughly 9400 papers collected on Saturday.
The council has called Barker the mayor-elect, but deputy electoral officer Robyn Dillon said the results could change as there were more than 9000 votes still to be counted.
"The results - both for the mayoralty and Councillors - are very tight," Dillion said.
But by Saturday evening, Andrew Simms had already congratulated his opponent, saying a swing in his direction seemed less likely as the final votes were counted, despite the close race.
"I would be tending to think that those will favour Sophie so I'm not necessarily expecting the result to be overturned and I've already congratulated her and looking forward to working with her," he said.
Simms has been elected onto the council under the progress results.
"I think there was a real mood for change in Dunedin. I think people were unhappy with the performance of the current council. That was very evident to us and I think that's part of the reason that we've seen such a turnout of candidates for both the mayoralty and for the council positions in Dunedin. Quite an extraordinary group of people," he said.
There were 16 people vying for the mayoralty, including, councillors, a vampire and the King of the Silly Hat Party, with more than 50 people throwing their hat in the ring for a councillor seat.
Radich's loss bucked the trend for big city mayors with Auckland incumbent Wayne Brown and Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger both retaining their seats, while Andrew Little picked up the empty seat in Wellington.
Radich said he was disappointed not to win but he had unfinished business that he intended to focus on as a councillor this term.
"I'm happy that I'm still on council because I'm very keen to shepherd my pipes and pumps work for South Dunedin through so that we have an increase in their security of South Dunedin. I think that's very important," he said.
"The focus for me has never been about ego or being the mayor, although I prefer to be the mayor, the focus is always about what's the best for Dunedin and getting things done for Dunedin."
Sophie Barker told the Otago Daily Times the vote could swing but it was a pretty huge milestone if she kept her lead as the second woman elected as Dunedin's mayor since Sukhi Turner in 1995.
"I had a great team behind me, women and men, and that makes a huge difference is when you have people that believe in you and bore you up through the very challenging election period," she told the ODT.
The progress result also suggested five incumbent councillors would lost their seat at the table - Councillors Andrew Whiley, Carmen Houlahan, Bill Acklin, Jim O'Malley and Kevin Gilbert.
They would be replaced by Andrew Simms, John Chambers, Russell Lund, Benedict Ong, Doug Hall and Bruce Ranga.
The preliminary results were expected on Sunday but the final results were not expected until Thursday next week.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
