Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby is to lead the city for the next three years after winning the election in emphatic fashion.

The progress results came in at about 2.30pm and show Stuart with 16,586 votes. The next best was Murray Guy with 4285 votes.

Mayor Stuart Crosby celebrating with his wife Lesley after winning a landslide victory in the Tauranga City Council election today.

The preliminary results are due on Sunday and the final results during the week, but the progress results show well enough that Stuart is the winner.

Stuart campaigned on a platform of ‘proven leadership', and this vote for him indicates a public approval for his previous term.

Throughout the campaign, Stuart talked about the strategies he had in place for meeting the city's problems and how to best lead the city through a time of substantial growth.

His strategies have required significant rates increases with ratepayers copping a 17 per cent rates increase over the next three years.

The city is also bearing a significant debt burden to pay for this growth and for its 2010 draft annual plan Audit New Zealand damned it as unsustainable.

This plan was revised and passed by Audit New Zealand that also recently gave Tauranga City Council its blessing with an ‘excellence' in financial reporting systems.

These policies of debt and reasonably high rates increases appear to have found acceptance by the public through this vote for Stuart to make him mayor again.

The voter turnout was not high. With 25 minutes left before the ballot closed at midday on Saturday, 42.28 per cent of the electorate had voted. This equates to 33,973 voters.

In the 2007 election 46.36 per cent of the electorate voted.

The council will be:

Mayor: Stuart Crosby

At large

Tony Christiansen
Rick Curach
Bill Faulkner
Murray Guy

Mount Maunganui-Papamoa

David Stewart
Wayne Moultrie

Otumoetai-Pyes Pa

Catherine Stewart
Larry Baldock

Te Papa-Welcome Bay

Bill Grainger
Terry Molloy