Ardern to stand for Labour in Mt Albert
Andrew Little's "big-name candidate" confirms rumours, Greens yet to confirm if they'll field a candidate.
Andrew Little's big-name candidate for the Mt Albert by-election has been revealed: list MP Jacinda Ardern.
In Labour's most recent reshuffle, Ms Ardern moved up into the number five position from number nine. She kept her portfolios of justice and children, and also picked up associate Auckland issues.
Ms Ardern (11,894 votes) narrowly lost Auckland Central to Nikki Kaye (12,494) at the 2014 election.
Since then, boundary changes have seen a big chunk of the electorate, including super-liberal Grey Lynn, Westmere, Arch Hill, become part of the Mt Albert — leading to speculation Ms Ardern would hop across, too.
David Shearer resigned the seat to take up a UN post in South Sudan from January.
National won the Mt Albert list vote in 2014 (see figures below). But Mr Shearer won the candidate vote by more than 10,000 as he benefitted from strategic voting by Green supporters; the combined Labour-Greens ballot was well ahead of National, indicating Ms Ardern should be in for a comfortable win.
The Greens are expected to sit out the contest, as they did in the recent Mt Roskill by-election under the new Labour-Greens partnership pact. However, co-leader James Shaw played coy when contacted by NBR today, saying the Greens and Labour had yet to hold a formal conversation.
National has yet to name a candidate.
Mt Albert 2014 list vote
- National: 14,359
- Labour: 10,823
- Greens: 8,005
- NZ First: 1512
- Conservative: 719
- Internet Mana: 603
- ACT: 356
- Maori Party: 178
- United Future: 57
Mt Albert 2014 candidate vote
- David Shearer (Labour): 20,970
- Melissa Lee (National): 10,314
- Jennette Elley (Green): 3152
(No other candidate above 600)
Below: Ardern announces her candidacy via Facebook Live:
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Ardern to stand for Labour in Mt Albert
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