Previous polling on local electorate races had proven notoriously unreliable. The Kāpiti electorate – created by the Representation Commision last year when it adjusted electorate boundaries – succeeded the classic bellwether seat Ōtaki, keeping most of its territory. “In no means does it show us that we’re guaranteed a win,” said Handford, a climate activist who founded the New Zealand School Strike 4 Climate and a former Kāpiti Coast district councillor. It is similar to the results of a resident’s survey by the Kāpiti Coast District Council on amalgamation, where 43% of 2770 responses backed having a single Kāpiti Coast authority, while just 18.1% supported joining a Wellington regional authority. The Kāpiti Coast District Council formally requested on Wednesday to change the regional proposal to have its own authority, with mayor Janet Holborow saying the resident’s survey was hard to ignore.