ACT Party leader David Seymour has voiced his support for New Zealand's youngest Mayor Ben Bell, calling recent moves to push him out of the job "disrespectful" to voters and democracy.
During last year's local elections, Bell took over Gore's mayoral chains from Tracy Hicks, who held the town's top job for 18 years.
Since then, the Gore District Council has been beset by controversies and discord.
On Wednesday, Gore District Council Deputy Mayor Keith Hovell and intermediary Richard McPhail, a councillor, met with Bell and asked him to resign.
Hovell said in a statement the majority of councillors had lost confidence in the Mayor and lost trust in him acting in the best interests of the community and council as a whole.
Bell rejected the request and, as a result, the council will meet next week to vote on multiple measures including a vote of no confidence, being removed from all committees and possible intervention from the Local Government Minister during an extraordinary meeting.
The motion comes following headlines in March that Bell and chief executive Stephen Parry's relationship had broken down to the point another councillor will act as an intermediary between them.
On Saturday, Seymour came to Bell's defence, calling the treatment of him a "disgraceful display of an elected representative being run down by the unelected people paid to support him".
"I have only met Gore Mayor Ben Bell once, shortly after he was elected. I found him to be a thoroughly decent and intelligent person committed to serving his community," Seymour said.
"The important part there is he was elected - he represents the people.
"It's disrespectful to the voters who elected him and the concept of democracy. If you are in Gore, I hope you'll support the guy who was elected to do his job.
"Democracy dies when the people can't elect a person to do their job."
The vote of no confidence will take place on Tuesday.
