The voting public would have an opportunity to seek clarifications on issues relating to the forthcoming Local Government Elections for Auckland Super City Council at an open public meeting.
Auckland Regional Ethnic Council has organised the meeting at the Mahatma Gandhi Centre at 145, New North Road, Mt Eden Terrace on Sunday, September 26 at 1 pm.
Cecil Lochan, Acting President of the Council said the meeting would be an opportunity for candidates contesting for the posts of Mayor, Councillors and Local Board Members to present their policies and programmes relating to minority groups.
“We propose to allot time for a representative of each Party to present their case. We would like the voting public to question the candidates,” he said.
Mr Lochan said minority groups should be able to exercise their franchise with a sound knowledge of the voting process, candidates in the field and their policies. With the number of immigration population constantly on the rise, such meetings would be informative and interesting,” he said.
As the nominations closed on August 20, there were 542 candidates vying to fill 170 vacancies of various posts.
There were 23 candidates on the Mayoral race for one post of Auckland Region Mayor, with incumbents John Banks (Auckland) and Len Brown (Manukau) as the hot favourites.
There are 100 candidates fighting for 20 places in the 13 wards of the new Auckland City Council (Councillors), while 419 aspirants were looking at 149 positions in 21 local boards.
Our analysis showed 32 persons of South Asian descent contesting for the post of Councillors and Local Health Boards.
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Photo : Cecil Lochan
