Palmerston North City Council Candidates Information Booklet

5CANDIDATEQUALIFICATIONS A candidate for local authority elections must be:Enrolled on a parliamentary roll anywhere in New Zealand; andA New Zealand citizen (either by birth or naturalisation ceremony). Restrictions on candidates for local authority elections:A candidate may seek nomination for Mayor and Council of Palmerston North City butcannot also seek nomination for the Manawatu-Wanganui (Horizons) RegionalCouncil. A candidate may stand for either Palmerston North City Council or theHorizons Regional Council but not both (Section 58 Local Electoral Act 2001).A candidate cannot be a person concerned or interested in contracts $25,000 (GSTinclusive) with the Local Authority for which nomination is sought [Section 3 (1) LocalAuthorities (Members’ Interests) Act 1968]. This restriction is waived if prior approvalfrom Audit New Zealand is obtained.An employee of Palmerston North City Council who is elected as Mayor or Councillormust resign from his/her position as an employee of the Council before taking uptheir position as an elected member (Section 41(5) Local Government Act 2002).A recent amendment to the Policing Act 2008 now enables all Police employees tostand in Local Authority elections without being placed on leave of absence for thepurpose of his/her candidature, and if elected they no longer need to vacate theiremployment with the New Zealand Police.A criminal conviction will not usually affect a nomination. The only exception to this isthat any person who is currently serving a prison term of three years or more cannotstand. Notes:Candidates need not necessarily be a resident or ratepayer of Palmerston North City.Subject to the above restrictions, any qualified person can be a candidate for anynumber of local authorities. However, an individual cannot be a candidate for morethan one ward of the same authority, nor can they be a candidate for a territorial localauthority as well as a Regional Council of which the local authority forms part.12 Palmerston North City Council Elections 2013