Detailed figures for the Kāpiti election show newcomer Gwynn Compton came within just 971 votes of ousting K Gurunthan as Mayor.

And the final count shows Mr Compton scored top among the contenders for the five districtwide councillor positions.

It’s the first time he’s stood for public office in Kāpiti.

Less than 1000 votes separate top two

In the Mayoralty contest, the KCDC single transferable vote system gave K Gurunthan 9029 votes on the third iteration (count) with Gwynn Compton 8058 — a majority of 971.

But these figures show a fall in Guru’s popularity compared with 2016 when he scored well over 2,000 more votes than Ross Church.

Elliott a distant third

Sitting Councillor Jackie Elliott came in a distant third with 3115, and newcomer Martin Halliday got 2058. But both got in as councillors.

The race for districtwide seats

In the race for the five districtwide council seats, Gwynn Compton again did particularly well — coming top of the list with 3595 votes.

He was well ahead of the former deputy mayor, Janet Holborow, who got 3161.

Sitting councillor Angela Buswell got 3148 votes; and sitting councillor Jackie Elliott 3090.

Last on the list was Labour candidate Rob McCann with 2823 votes.