A former New Plymouth mayor says he can understand why no one has put their hand up to stand for the city's Māori ward.
Andrew Judd championed the establishment of the ward, but he questions why anyone would want to serve alongside people who want the position disestablished.
The optician was mayor of New Plymouth in 2014 when it voted to establish a Māori ward - only to see it scrapped in a citizens-initiated poll a year later.
He did not stand for re-election, instead becoming a tireless campaigner to have the "discriminatory" polls scrapped, which the government did last year.
But Judd said there were still people on council who wanted the polls brought back.
"Go figure if you're Māori, why really would you want to get involved with the council?
"When all around the Māori ward seats we hear rhetoric from existing councillors - campaigning to be mayors - to remove not only co-governance but to reinstate this ability to petition to remove Māori wards.
"Let's think about this and break that down. If you're Māori, would you want to be part of that? 'Cause I wouldn't."
Māori wards opponent and mayoral candidate Murray Chong wants to introduce polls on all contentious issues at council.
New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) currently has no nominations for its Kōhanga Moa ward (Inglewood and surrounding area) and Te Purutanga Mauri Pūmanawa (Māori ward), and barely enough candidates to fill the other seats.
In line with other local bodies around the country, it has put out an SOS for more candidates.
Despite his reservations, Judd was confident Māori would come forward, but he said the situation had not been helped by technical issues on the council website.
"Did people who are Māori go to get involved and realise it was another barrier they had to get through?
"I just cannot forgive that given the excitement we had with our council to establish a Māori ward seat, the first hurdle to actually to put your name in and there's a blockade. Not good enough NPDC."
Dinnie Moeahu, the only Māori currently on council, was not worried about the lack of Māori ward nominations.
Like any fine wine, it takes time and it's been 22 years of fighting just to get this established, so sometimes it's about the quality of the candidate, not the quantity of candidates.
"So, I've got no issues because they've got until Friday to put their applications in."
Moeahu said he had been talking to potential candidates, who were excited.
"But they understand the enormity of the occasion, and I have no doubt we will have amazing candidates who will rise to that occasion, and so let the process play out and then let's see who stands once everything has been settled."
Former South Taranaki district councillor Bonita Bingham is the chair of Te Maruata Roopu Whakahaere - Local Government New Zealand's national collective of Māori in governance roles.
She said it was clear with 32 Māori Wards and 51 new Māori Ward councillors being required that more nominations were needed.
"It's just taking some time for iwi and our whānau members across the motu to consider their options to understand what the role means and to go through the process of completing the nomination forms et cetera, so I'm pretty confident that come Friday, especially here in Taranaki, we will see all those nominations come forward."
Bingham will be standing for the Māori ward on Taranaki Regional Council (TRC).
Aotearoa was ready for change, Bingham said.
"With that too is the reflection from the local government sector that times are changing and they need to be engaged with iwi and Māori in these spaces where our voices haven't been before.
"So, that's why I'm hanging in there because I want to be part of the change and help the TRC to usher those changes into a more meaningful relationship with iwi."
New Plymouth District Council said it had a technical issue on its website for about two hours yesterday, which meant people were unable to download forms and documents.
It said the problem was not isolated to the Māori wards or voting section of the website.
Nominations for October's local government elections close at midday 12 August.
RNZ
