ZB ZB
Live now
Start time
Playing for
End time
Listen live
Listen to NAME OF STATION
Up next
Listen live on
ZB

Labour's Jacinda Ardern new MP for Mt Albert

Author
The NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Sat, 25 Feb 2017, 6:29AM

Labour's Jacinda Ardern new MP for Mt Albert

Author
The NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Sat, 25 Feb 2017, 6:29AM

UPDATED 8.48pm

Labour MP Jacinda Ardern will be Mt Albert's new MP - recording a sizeable victory that will further raise her profile in election year.

Ardern achieved a resounding win with 10,000 votes (77 per cent). The Green Party's Julie Anne Genter was a distant second with 1489 votes (11 per cent). The Opportunities Party's Geoff Simmons won 4 per cent of the vote.

Voter turnout for the by-election was low. There are 55,520 people eligible to vote in the Mt Albert electorate and 46,958, or 84.6 per cent, are enrolled. Just 12,971, or 27.6 of those enrolled, voted.

Ardern was joined by Labour leader Andrew Little at the Pt Chevalier bowling club last night, and other senior MPs including Phil Twyford. A loud cheer went up from the crowd when the county hit 100 per cent.

There has been speculation that a strong byelection showing could lead to some within Labour questioning whether Ardern should be elevated to the deputy leader position, currently held by Annette King.

National did not stand a candidate, with Prime Minister Bill English saying they wanted to focus on September's general election.

Thirteen candidates competed for David Shearer's seat after the former Labour MP and party leader resigned in December to take up a United Nations posting in South Sudan.

Shearer won Mt Albert in 2014 with a majority of 10,656 votes, or about 59 per cent. In the 2009 byelection that saw him enter Parliament Shearer got 63 per cent of the vote.

National got 14,360 party votes in the seat in 2014, ahead of Labour on 10,823 and the Green Party at 8005.

National's decision not to stand in Mt Albert came after its candidate Parmjeet Parmar lost heavily to Labour's Michael Wood in the Mt Roskill byelection in December.

The Green Party did not stand in that by-election, a decision reached after Labour and the Greens signed a Memorandum of Understanding, with the aim of changing the Government.

Ardern is a list MP and her probable victory will mean another Labour List MP will come into Parliament. That will be former MP Raymond Huo.

Ardern recently moved into Mt Albert with her partner Clarke Gayford but had been intending to stand in Auckland Central for the third time prior to Shearer's resignation.

Parliament. That will be former MP Raymond Huo.

Ardern recently moved into Mt Albert with her partner Clarke Gayford but had been intending to stand in Auckland Central for the third time prior to Shearer's resignation.

Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you