Seven candidates will contest the by-election for Christchurch City Council’s Coastal ward seat.

Nominations for the by-election, which has been triggered by the resignation of James Daniels as Coastal ward Councillor, closed at midday Thursday.

The candidates are, Kelly Barber (Labour), Celeste Donovan (Independent – Positive Community Action), David East (Independent), Katie Hays, Andre Hopman (Independent), Caleb Isaacs (Independent) and Nikora Nitro.

Chris Lynch has interviewed several candidates already. (See below)

Electoral Officer Jo Daly said “the number of candidates is great news for the Coastal community – more people in the race allows for lots of issues to be highlighted and a range of views for people to vote for.

The by-election is being conducted by postal vote under the First Past the Post voting system.

Voting documents will be sent out to enrolled voters in the Coastal ward from Thursday 16 September.

Voting will close at midday on 8 October.

Jo Daly said once voting documents arrive in the post, residents can vote straight away.

Every pack comes with candidate profile statements, as well as a Freepost envelope to send it back to us in.

“If you don’t get your papers, it may mean you aren’t on the Coastal ward electoral roll, but if you want to have a say in who’ll be representing your Coastal community on the Council, you can still enrol right up to 7 October – it just means you need to cast a special vote.”

All you need to do is:

• Get an enrolment form from vote.nz, freetext your name and address to 3676, or call 0800 36 76 56.

• Once enrolled, email [email protected] or call 03 941 8581 for special voting papers, or do it in person at the Shirley Library Customer Services Desk or the Civic Offices.

More information about the Coastal ward by-election is available at ccc.govt.nz/elections.