Lindsay Thomas has won the race to fill the vacant seat on the Invercargill City Council.

In a statement at 1.15 this afternoon, Invercargill electoral officer Graham Low said he had received 13,747 votes from a total roll of 38,493, which represented a voter return percentage of 35.7 per cent.

Mr Low received the final few hundred votes in the post for the Invercargill by-election this morning.

Nine candidates were in the running to fill the 12th city councillor's seat following the resignation of Jackie Kruger in June.

Mayor Tim Shadbolt said yesterday he believed the final result would be close.

"I asked a group of six city councillors who they thought would win and they each had a different answer. Usually by now there's a clear frontrunner ... but I think it's going to be very close."

The nine candidates were Mr Thomas, along with Hunter Andrews, Carl Heenan, Allan Arnold, Debbie Jamieson, Karen Arnold, Charlie Te Au, Steve Broad and Rebecca Amundsen.

Earlier, Mr Low said the voter turnout appeared to be one of the worst on record, with voter apathy being blamed.

"Certainly since 1995 it's the worst turnout [in Invercargill]," Mr Low said.

Mr Shadbolt said he believed the by-election had got drowned out by the Olympic Games coverage.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

THOMAS, Lindsay - 2845

ARNOLD, Karen - 2492

BROAD, Steve - 2453

ARNOLD, Allan - 1890

JAMIESON, Debbie -1344

AMUNDSEN, Rebecca - 872

ANDREWS, Hunter - 808

HEENAN, Carl - 702

TE AU, Charlie - 314

INFORMAL - 32

NO VOTES - 19

- © Fairfax NZ News

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