Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Parker re-elected in Christchurch

Updated at 6:11 am on 10 October 2010

Bob Parker has been re-elected as the mayor of Christchurch City.

Mr Parker received 68,245 votes, 16,679 more than his closest rival, Jim Anderton, who received 51,566 votes.

Mr Anderton was well ahead in the polls until the devastating Canterbury earthquake five weeks ago, after which Mr Parker bounced back.

Mr Parker says voters have had the opportunity to see him at work since the quake and this contributed to his win.

He says he's often been the one standing in front of the camera, but the 2500 city council workers have been working very hard since the quake.

Mr Parker was criticised for his decision not to campaign after the earthquake, but he said he didn't have time.

Listen to more about the Christchurch mayoralty race on Checkpoint

Anderton says most difficult campaign yet

Mr Anderton says his campaign was unable to recover from the shock of the earthquake and voters responded to the media coverage given to Bob Parker.

Mr Anderton says he's had 47 years in politics and had 20 campaigns, but this has been the most difficult.

He says Mr Parker's suspending his campaign after the earthquake made it impossible to debate the other issues affecting Christchurch.

The preliminary result is based on 98% of returned voting papers and does not include some special votes and the voting papers that were returned on Saturday.

Based on these preliminary results, there will also be five new faces around the council table.

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