Christchurch City Council

The Christchurch City Council is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the 375,000 people of Christchurch. Since October 2013, the Mayor of Christchurch is Lianne Dalziel, who succeeded Bob Parker. The council currently consists of 13 councillors elected from seven wards, and is presided over by the Mayor, who is elected at large. At the 2016 election, this will increase to 16 councillors.

As a result of the 1989 local government reforms, on 1 November 1989 Christchurch City Council took over the functions of the former Christchurch City Council, Heathcote County Council, Riccarton Borough Council, Waimairi District Council, part of Paparua County Council, and the Christchurch Drainage Board. On 6 March 2006, Banks Peninsula District Council merged with Christchurch City Council.

Councillor Yani Johanson campaigned since 2010 to live-stream council meetings for more transparency. Whilst the technology had been installed well before the 2013 local body election, is has only been used since the change in mayor.

The Council is elected every three years using the first-past-the-post voting system. The vote is conducted by postal ballot. The most recent elections, which closed on 13 October 2007, had a turnout of 41.7%.

Prior to the 2004 local elections, there were 24 councillors in Christchurch. At that election, the number of councillors halved to 12. For electoral purposes, Christchurch was divided into six wards from 2004, and seven wards after the amalgamation with Banks Peninsula in 2006. The six metropolitan wards each elected two councillors, with the remaining councillor elected for the sparsely populated Banks Peninsula ward. The 2016 representation review by the Local Government Commission has resulted in 16 wards, with each ward electing one councillor, i.e. an increase in three councillors.

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