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How Labour will find a new candidate for Napier

Author
Doug Laing,
Publish Date
Tue, 4 Apr 2023, 4:09pm
The last time Labour had more than one nomination for its Napier candidacy was 15 years ago. Stuart Nash, pictured at the time with supporters at a quiz night, missed out on the nomination, but became a List MP.
The last time Labour had more than one nomination for its Napier candidacy was 15 years ago. Stuart Nash, pictured at the time with supporters at a quiz night, missed out on the nomination, but became a List MP.

How Labour will find a new candidate for Napier

Author
Doug Laing,
Publish Date
Tue, 4 Apr 2023, 4:09pm

The chairman of the Labour Party鈥檚 Napier electorate committee expects a new candidate for this year鈥檚 election to be in place by early next month.

Speaking following the announcement of听, electorate chairman Mark Cleary, a former high school principal, said that while he鈥檇 give departing MP Nash 鈥渕ore than a pass mark - an A-plus鈥, the committee had for the last week been preparing for the decision by Nash either way following the loss of his roles in the Parliamentary Cabinet of Prime Minister Chris Hipkins.

Cleary confirmed it was Nash鈥檚 decision alone as to whether or not to continue as a candidate to seek re-election in Napier, a former Labour Party stronghold wrestled back by Nash when he won the seat in the 2014 general election following the departure of three-term National Party MP Chris Tremain.

鈥淭here was no pressure for him to [resign as candidate],鈥 Cleary said. 鈥淚 am full of admiration for him. He鈥檚 very hard-working, he鈥檚 very diligent. He does all the reading. He鈥檚 very well-briefed.鈥

He said public comments he鈥檚 seen in support of the work done by Nash 鈥渇ar outweigh鈥 any other comments.

The party had confirmed about two months ago that Nash would be the Napier candidate, as he had been since 2011.

He had stood as the party candidate in safe National seat Epsom (now the preserve, in National absentia, of Act leader David Seymour) in 2005 and in 2008, having unsuccessfully challenged MP Russell Fairbrother for Labour鈥檚 Napier nomination.

Fairbrother had been elected as Napier MP in 2002, after the retirement of seven-term MP Geoff Braybrooke, and a Labour List MP since 2005, after Tremain and National brought about Labour鈥檚 first general election loss in Napier in 54 years.

听鈥淭his is all very sudden,鈥 Cleary said, emphasising that the Labour Electorate Committee had been preparing for a campaign with Nash as its candidate, and it hadn鈥檛 had to go through the full selection process with more than one nomination since that 2008 decision.

Cleary said the party has a strong membership base in Napier 鈥 鈥渨e鈥檙e aware of who our members are鈥 鈥 and he expects there will be interest from some who have Parliamentary aspirations, including Hawke鈥檚 Bay people who live elsewhere, although it鈥檚 too early to say where a selection process will need to take place.

The party is expected to call for nominations, and if there are more than one, a selection process will take place, with the preferences of the party鈥檚 national council and the local electorate committee each counting for four votes.

Members, including members of four affiliated traded unions, could then take part in a selection-meeting 鈥渇loor鈥 vote for a preferred candidate, but their selection stands as just a single vote in the process.

While there will be rumours of who might be in line, the identities of nominees are confidential, at least until the closing of nominations.

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