Innes Ward City Councillor Pauline Cotter has retained her seat on the Christchurch City Council with 16 votes ahead of Ali Jones.

Final elections were released on Friday showing Phil Mauger won Christchurch’s mayoralty with 53,569 votes.

Mayor-elect Mauger’s nearest rival, David Meates, received 51,298 votes.

The final results, which include special votes cast in the election, show that in the Innes ward the sitting Councillor and People’s Choice member Pauline Cotter held onto her Christchurch City Council seat.

There was a close competition for one of the two Community Board positions in the Riccarton ward, where preliminary results had just one vote separating the second and third-placed candidates, Gamal Fouda and Luke Chandler respectively.

The final election results show that Gamal Fouda will join Helen Broughton in representing the Riccarton ward on the Waipuna Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board.

Christchurch City Council Electoral Officer Jo Daly advised that 2924 special votes were received before the close of voting, with 2410 qualified and processed.