About representation reviews
For electoral purposes, Hamilton City is divided into wards (voting areas). To ensure fair and effective representation at elections, we review our electoral arrangements at least every six years, as required by the Local Electoral Act 2001. These reviews consider questions such as:
- How many wards are best for our city?
- Should all (or some) councillors be elected from across the city, or from two (or more) wards?
- How many councillors should there be overall, and in each ward?
- Do we want community boards, and if so, how many members should they have, and which areas should they cover?
As a result of the most recent representation review in 2021, Hamilton City is divided into three wards - the East Ward, West Ward, and a citywide Maaori Ward.
2021 representation review
In May 2021, Council voted to introduce Maaori wards for the next two local government elections (2022, 2025), after a public consultation.
In August 2021, we underwent a wider representation review, as required by the Electoral Act 2001.
The proposal:
Next representation review
As part of the 2021 decision on representation arrangements, Council recommended that the arrangements confirmed as a result of this Wider Representation Review be reviewed in 2023/24 (for the 2025 triennial elections). If the new Council (following the 2022 elections) decides not to follow this recommendation the next representation review will take place in 2027.
Feedback
Last updated 9 June 2022