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When votes for mayor of Wellington were counted on Saturday, Kerry Prendergast had won by 40 votes. She has been the mayor for 9 years. However, when the special votes were counted yesterday, Celia Wade-Brown won 176 more votes than Kerry Prendergast.

Wellington has the STV system of voting where voters rank candidates. They give 1 to their first choice, 2 to the second choice and so on. Some people say that this is a very fair way to vote. However, only 40% of eligible people voted so the majority of people in Wellington did not vote for anyone.

Celia Wade-Brown was a Green party councillor for the last three years. She believes in more public transport, more walking and cycle paths, better rubbish recycling and taking more care of the environment. When she heard the results of the vote yesterday, she rode her bike from her home in Island Bay into the city.

Listen to October 9th 2010 for more about election results.

Questions

1. How important is a mayor? She or he has only one vote on the council.

2. Do you have any good ideas of how to encourage more people to vote?

3. If you live in Wellington, what do you think about more cycle paths? The new mayor would like a cycle way all around the harbour to Eastbourne. Do you think this is a good idea?