Voting in the Hamilton City Council East Ward by-election will open on Friday.

The by-election will seek a new councillor after former senior councillor Ryan Hamilton resigned, following his win as a National Party MP for Hamilton East at last year’s general election.

There are 16 candidates in the running for the councillor position.

They are: former Waikato District Mayor Aksel Bech, Richard Brister, Jacobus Gielen, Jose Gonzales, Horiana Henderson, Marie-Claire Lepina, Leo Liu, former National MP Tim Macindoe, John McDonald, Jenny Nand, Jono Ng, Anna Smart, Roger Stratford, Tony Tang, Tania Temoni-Syme and Michael West.

Candidate profiles can be found online on the dedicated Hamilton City Council website.

The by-election will be conducted via postal vote. Enrolled voters will or have received voting papers in the mail. Voters can either post them back or drop them off at a ballot box.

Hamilton switched to the Single Transferable Vote, STV for short, at the last local election in 2022. Instead of making a tick on the voting paper, people are asked to rank the candidates, with 1 being the most favourite.

Voting opens on Friday, January 26 and close on Saturday, February 17 at 12pm.

Once appointed, the new councillor will serve until the next local election in 2025.