Public notice: Southland Regional Council - Representation Review 2025
In accordance with section 19R of the Local Electoral Act 2001, the Local Government Commission determines that for at least the triennial general election of the Southland Regional Council to be held on 11 October 2025, the following representation arrangements will apply:
Southland Region, as delineated on Plan LG-015-2025-Con-1 will be represented by a Council comprising 12 councillors elected as follows:
| Constituency | Councillors | Plan delineating area |
| Fiordland Constituency | 1 | SO 11503 |
| Eastern-Dome Constituency | 2 | LG-015-2025-Con-2 |
| Western Constituency | 1 | LG-015-2025-Con-3 |
| Hokonui Constituency | 1 | LG-015-2025-Con-4 |
| Southern Constituency | 1 | LG-015-2025-Con-5 |
| Invercargill-Rakiura Constituency | 6 | SO 301281 |
The ratio of population to elected members for each constituency will be as follows:
| Constituency | Population* | Number per member | Population per member | Deviation from region average population per member | & deviation from region average population per member |
| Fiordland | 4,660 | 1 | 4,660 | -4,000 | -46.19 |
| Eastern-Dome | 17,350 | 2 | 8,675 | 15 | 0.17 |
| Western | 7,820 | 1 | 7,820 | -840 | -9.70 |
| Hokonui | 9,200 | 1 | 9,200 | 540 | 6.24 |
| Southern | 6,590 | 1 | 6,590 | -2,070 | -23.90 |
| Invercargill-Rakiura | 58,300 | 6 | 9,717 | 1,057 | 12.20 |
| Total | 103,920 | 12 | 8,660 |
*Based on Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa 2023 population estimates (2018 census base)
Under section 19V(6) of the Act, the Commission upholds the decision of the Council not to comply with the fair representation requirements of section 19V(2) (the ‘+/-10% rule’) for the following electoral areas:
- Fiordland Constituency as compliance would limit effective representation of communities of interest due to the accessibility and size of the area including access to elected members and vice versa;
- Southern Constituency as compliance would limit effective representation of communities of interest by splitting the Makarewa and Wallacetown communities of interest, which share a connection to Invercargill, between electoral subdivisions; and
- Invercargill-Rakiura Constituency as there is insufficient evidence that a 13-member council is required for effective representation across the region, nor that a seven-member Invercargill-Rakiura Constituency would provide more effective representation for communities of interest in Invercargill-Rakiura.
As required by section 19U of the Act, the boundaries of the above constituencies coincide with the boundaries of current statistical meshblock areas determined by Statistics New Zealand and used for Parliamentary electoral purposes.
The determination is available on the Commission’s website: Recent Determinations - Local Government Commission (lgc.govt.nz)
Penny Langley
Chief Executive Officer