The number of candidates who have officially thrown their hats in the ring for the Timaru Mayoralty sits at zero.
Earlier this week, the Timaru District Council confirmed no one was yet officially in the running to be the district's Mayor - just over a week before the deadline.
Incumbent Mayor Nigel Bowen previously told Stuff he planned to run for a second term - although he has not yet officially put his name forward.
"There are no Mayoral candidates yet, we often don't see nominations come through until reasonably late in the nomination period (often on the last day)," a Timaru District Council spokesman told Newshub.
"We've never had the issue with the mayoral or councillor races, but if there were no nominations for Mayor we'd have to have a by-election.
"For Timaru, if we didn't get enough candidates to fill the number of seats the candidates already nominated would be elected unopposed then there would be a by-election for the empty seats (again, this is unlikely)."
Newshub has contacted Bowen for comment.
Bowen was among a host of new South Island Mayors elected in 2019, receiving 8759 votes - nearly 4000 more than his closest rival.
This year's local elections take place between September 16 and October 8.
