Lists of candidates for the upcoming local body elections have been released following the closure of nominations yesterday.

The lists include candidates for mayor of the main centres, including the 22 people who are standing for mayor of Auckland. That list can also be seen here.

The candidates for mayor of Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin are as follows:

Wellington mayor

Blake, Ellen (Independent)
Chung, Ray (Independent)
Dudfield, Chris (Independent – Vision/Skill/Results)
Eagle, Paul (Independent)
Foster, Andy (Together for Wellington)
Hastie, Kelvin (Future Wellington)
McDonald, Donald Newtown (Our truth all but whole truth)
McKenzie, Barbara (Independent)
Whanau, Tory (Independent)

Christchurch mayor

Bromley, Carl (Independent – I Hear I Care)
Chirnside, Mark (Chirny for Mayor)
Hansen, Tubby (Economic Euthenics)
Jelley, Stephen (Stop the Stadium)
Kingi-Patterson, Drucilla (Independent)
Mauger, Phil (Let’s Get Stuff Done)
Meates, David (Listens, Leads and Gets Results)
Nitro, Nikora (Independent)
Park, Sam
The Wizard Of NZ (Independent)
Wakeman, Peter (Independent)

Dunedin mayor

Acklin, Bill (Independent)
Barker, Sophie (Independent)
Groshinski, Jett (Independent)
Hawkins, Aaron (Green Ōtepoti)
Houlahan, Carmen (Independent)
Mayhem-Bullock, Mandy
Milne, David Joseph
Radich, Jules (Team Dunedin)
Seager, Richard (Southern Independents)
Taylor, Pamela (Independent)
Vandervis, Lee (Independent)

Full lists of candidates for councils nationwide can be found here.

There have been 17 deaths attributable to Covid-19 recorded by the Ministry of Health in the past 24 hours. Another 10 people died with Covid, though the actual cause of death has not yet been ascertained.

Of these 27 people, one was from Northland, seven were from Auckland region, two were from Waikato, two were from Lakes, three were from Hawke’s Bay, two were from Taranaki, three were from MidCentral, two were from Whanganui, one was from Wellington region, three were from Canterbury, and one was from Southern.

Three were in their 50s, two were in their 60s, seven were in their 70s, 12 were in their 80s and three were aged over 90. Sixteen were women and 11 were men.

There are now a total of 1,750 deaths confirmed as attributable to Covid-19, either as the underlying cause of death or as a contributing factor. The seven-day rolling average increase in total deaths attributable to Covid-19 is now 14.

The ministry is also reporting 3,650 new community cases and 546 current hospitalisations.

The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers today is 4,418. Last Saturday it was 5,608.

The seven-day rolling average of hospitalisations is 594. Last Saturday it was 703.

A senior parliamentary staffer has accused Labour MP Anna Lorck of bullying, in the latest harassment claim against MPs on both sides of the aisle.

The staffer, who has not been named, told Stuff she was forced to move furniture around Lorck’s office for an hour and sober drive her home outside of work hours.

The woman, who says she was Lorck’s third executive assistant in around 18 months, started in the role in October and resigned last Wednesday.

She believes the office furniture incident was in retaliation for failing to pick up a coffee up for Lorck, and says she was forced to drive the MP home after staying with her at her home in Hawke’s Bay on a work trip.

“Anna just drank and drank and drank…and she said now you will have to drive me home because I can’t drive,” the woman said.

After complaining about Lorck, she says Parliamentary Service tried to move her into a different role. However Labour chief whip Duncan Webb halted the move, she says, as he thought the working relationship with Lorck could be repaired.

According to Stuff, Lorck did not respond to the specific allegations but said in a statement that she works as “as constructively and as supportively as possible to create a positive working environment for my team”.

Auckland Council has released its provisional candidate list for the upcoming local body elections, including the names of 22 people standing for mayor.

Candidate nominations for local body elections closed nationwide yesterday.

One name not on the mayoral candidate list is controversial hospitality veteran Leo Molloy, who yesterday announced he had withdrawn from the race.

See the full list of candidates for all positions in the Auckland local elections here.