Māori wards appear to be the only clear winner in the Whakatāne District Council election.

As progress results are counted, only 19 votes separate the two leading candidates in the race for the Whakatāne mayoralty.

Mayor Victor Luca is leading with 2723 votes. Nandor Tanczos is just behind with 2704, as of Saturday 3pm.

Incumbent Victor Lucas is leading the mayoralty race by 19 votes according to Saturday's progress results. Photo / LDR

In the referendum on whether to retain Māori wards in the district, 5569 people voted in favour and 3707 against keeping them.

Mark Inman is running in third place for the mayoralty with 1306, followed by Andrew Iles with 1166, Philip Jacobs with 970 and Wilson James with 625.

Carolyn Hamill has proven hugely popular with voters for one of four seats on the Whakatāne-Ōhope ward with 3184 votes.

Lesley Immink (2450) and Julie Jukes (2323) also look to have been returned, and Malcolm Whitiker (1957) is leading Brendon Horan (1826).

Chris Barnard (1567) and Dave Stewart (1526) are trailing.

Māori ward candidates Toni Boynton and Tu O’Brien are on track to return and current community board member Jessie Morgan-Ranui is well in the lead for the Toi ki Uta Māori ward seat being vacated by Ngapera Rangiaho.

Mayoral candidate Nandor Tanczos is only 19 votes behind incumbent Victor Luca according to progress results on Saturday. Photo / LDR

These results only include votes made before Saturday. Preliminary results including votes cast on Saturday morning are expected to be available today.

These will not include special votes, which will be counted next week. Full results will be given by Friday.

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.