Mana by-election, 2010 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

New Zealand by-elections

By-elections in New Zealand occur to fill vacant seats in the New Zealand Parliament. The death, resignation, or expulsion of a sitting electorate MP can cause a by-election...

was held in the New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

electorate of Mana

Mana (New Zealand electorate)

Mana is a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate north of Wellington. It is currently held by Kris Faafoi MP.-Population centres:The electorate includes the following population centres:* Paraparaumu * Raumati...

on 20 November 2010. The seat was vacated by former Labour

New Zealand Labour Party

The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially progressive and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....

Pacific Island Affairs Minister Winnie Laban, who announced her resignation from the New Zealand Parliament

Parliament of New Zealand

The Parliament of New Zealand consists of the Queen of New Zealand and the New Zealand House of Representatives and, until 1951, the New Zealand Legislative Council. The House of Representatives is often referred to as "Parliament".The House of Representatives usually consists of 120 Members of...

on 10 August 2010 following her appointment as Assistant Vice Chancellor Pasifika at Victoria University

Victoria University of Wellington

Victoria University of Wellington was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a former constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and some scientific disciplines, but offers a broad range of other courses...

. According to provisional results, the by-election was won by Kris Faafoi

Kris Faafoi

Kris Faafoi is a New Zealand politician for the Labour Party. He represents the Mana electorate in the New Zealand Parliament.-Early life and family:...

, also of the Labour Party.

Demographics and election history

The Mana electorate

Mana (New Zealand electorate)

has large Pasifika

Pacific Islander

Pacific Islander , is a geographic term to describe the indigenous inhabitants of any of the three major sub-regions of Oceania: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia.According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, these three regions, together with their islands consist of:Polynesia:...

and Māori populations, with 21% and 18% for each ethnicity, respectively. It includes the suburbs of Cannons Creek

Cannons Creek, New Zealand

Cannons Creek is a suburb of Porirua City approximately 22km north of Wellington in New Zealand.- External links :* at Statistics NZ* at Statistics NZ* at Statistics NZ...

and Porirua East, which are some of the poorest in New Zealand. The median personal income for residents of Mana is $NZ

New Zealand dollar

The New Zealand dollar is the currency of New Zealand. It also circulates in the Cook Islands , Niue, Tokelau, and the Pitcairn Islands. It is divided into 100 cents....

26,000.

The New Zealand Labour Party

New Zealand Labour Party

has held the electorate since its creation for the 1999 general election

New Zealand general election, 1999

The 1999 New Zealand general election was held on 27 November 1999 to determine the composition of the 46th New Zealand Parliament. The governing National Party, led by Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, was defeated, being replaced by a coalition of Helen Clark's Labour Party and the smaller Alliance...

. Chris Finlayson

Chris Finlayson

Christopher Francis Finlayson is a New Zealand lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament, representing the National Party. He is a Cabinet minister and the Attorney-General of New Zealand...

and Hekia Parata

Hekia Parata

Hon. Hekia Parata, Lady Gardiner is a New Zealand politician and member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, having been elected to parliament in the 2008 general election...

, who contested Mana for the New Zealand National Party

New Zealand National Party

The New Zealand National Party is the largest party in the New Zealand House of Representatives and in November 2008 formed a minority government with support from three minor parties.-Policies:...

in 2005

New Zealand general election, 2005

The 2005 New Zealand general election held on 17 September 2005 determined the composition of the 48th New Zealand Parliament. No party won a majority in the unicameral House of Representatives, but the Labour Party of Prime Minister Helen Clark secured two more seats than nearest rival, the...

and 2008

New Zealand general election, 2008

The 2008 New Zealand general election was held on 8 November 2008 to determine the composition of the 49th New Zealand parliament. The conservative National Party, headed by its Parliamentary leader John Key, won a plurality of votes and seats, ending 9 years of government dominated by the social...

, are current list MPs.

Candidates

Eight candidates contested the by-election:

Party	Notes	Source
Kelly Buchanan	Alliance	Attempted unsuccessfully to have her name removed from the ballot papers following Matt McCarten's announcement of his candidacy.
Julian Crawford	Legalise Cannabis Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party is a political party in New Zealand. It is dedicated to removing or reducing restrictions on the use of cannabis and similar substances...
Colin Du Plessis	ACT
Kris Faafoi Kris Faafoi Kris Faafoi is a New Zealand politician for the Labour Party. He represents the Mana electorate in the New Zealand Parliament.-Early life and family:...	Labour Party New Zealand Labour Party The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially progressive and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....	Formerly Press secretary to the Parliamentary Leader of the Labour Party
>Sean Fitzpatrick	Libertarianz Libertarianz Libertarianz is a political party in New Zealand that advocates libertarianism, favouring self-government and limiting the power of the government over the individual. Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism is a major influence on the party...	Deputy leader of party
>Jan Logie Jan Logie Jan Logie is a New Zealand politician and a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. She is a member of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand.-Early life:Logie was born in Invercargill in 1969...	Green Party Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is a political party that has seats in the New Zealand parliament. It focuses firstly on environmentalism, arguing that all other aspects of humanity will cease to be of concern if there is no environment to sustain it...	Former YWCA Director
>Matt McCarten Matt McCarten Matthew "Matt" McCarten is a New Zealand political organiser. He has been involved with several leftist or centre-left political parties, and is also active in the trade-union movement...	Independent	Former President of Alliance and current Unite Union general secretary
>Hekia Parata Hekia Parata Hon. Hekia Parata, Lady Gardiner is a New Zealand politician and member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, having been elected to parliament in the 2008 general election...	National Party New Zealand National Party The New Zealand National Party is the largest party in the New Zealand House of Representatives and in November 2008 formed a minority government with support from three minor parties.-Policies:...	Current List MP/ Deputy Chair of social services Select Committee

Kris Faafoi (Labour)

Labour

New Zealand Labour Party

leader Phil Goff

Phil Goff

Philip Bruce Goff is the current Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party. During the Fifth Labour Government, he served in a number of ministerial portfolios, including Minister of Defence of New Zealand, Minister of Corrections, Minister of Foreign Affairs and...

said that "Labour will be looking to find a strong candidate and will campaign on both local issues and issues that matter to all Kiwis".

President of the Labour Party, Andrew Little

Andrew Little (trade unionist)

Andrew Little is the national secretary of New Zealand’s largest trade union, the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union and former president of the New Zealand Labour Party.-Career:...

indicated he would not put himself forward for his party's nomination, preferring a Pacific Islander

Pacific Islander

or Māori candidate.
Porirua Deputy Mayor, Litea Ah Hoi, chief press secretary to Phil Goff and former Television New Zealand

Television New Zealand

Television New Zealand, more commonly referred to, and stylized as TVNZ, is a government-owned corporation television network broadcasting in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific. It operates TV1, TV2, TVNZ7, TVNZ Heartland, TVNZ U and new media services....

reporter, Kris Faafoi

Kris Faafoi

Kris Faafoi is a New Zealand politician for the Labour Party. He represents the Mana electorate in the New Zealand Parliament.-Early life and family:...

,
Porirua City Councillor, Taima Fagaloa, and former Progressive Party

New Zealand Progressive Party

Jim Anderton's Progressive Party , is a New Zealand political party generally somewhat to the left of its ally, the Labour Party....

candidate for Ōtaki

Otaki (New Zealand electorate)

Ōtaki is a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate, spanning part of the coast of the lower North Island. The bulk of its population comes from the Horowhenua district, but it also takes in part of the northern Kapiti Coast, including the towns of Otaki and Waikanae, and part of Paraparaumu. The...

, Josie Pagani, were possible Labour Party contestants for the by-election. Kris Faafoi was chosen on 18 September.

Matt McCarten (Independent)

On October 27 Matt McCarten

Matt McCarten

Matthew "Matt" McCarten is a New Zealand political organiser. He has been involved with several leftist or centre-left political parties, and is also active in the trade-union movement...

announced that he would stand as an independent candidate

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

for Parliament in the Mana by-election
The trade-union leader has received considerable media attention for his surprise nomination. Political analysts quote him as being able to "strike a chord in Mana" in the by-election given his political and popular appeal with the high number of poor and unemployed in the electorate.

McCarten expects to win the by-election given his political focus on the many low-income families of Mana, and given current frustrations with Labour policies – despite Mana's reputation as a Labour safe-seat. McCarten suggests that "voters are more likely to take a risk on an outside chance in by-elections than general elections".

Hekia Parata (National)

The National Party

New Zealand National Party

The New Zealand National Party is the largest party in the New Zealand House of Representatives and in November 2008 formed a minority government with support from three minor parties.-Policies:...

confirmed that they would contest the by-election
and selected Hekia Parata

Hekia Parata

Hon. Hekia Parata, Lady Gardiner is a New Zealand politician and member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, having been elected to parliament in the 2008 general election...

, the National candidate for Mana in 2008, as the party's candidate.

Other parties

United Future opted not to contest the by-election, citing strain on the party's resources. The Alliance Party attempted to withdraw their candidate Kelly Buchanan, after the announcement of Candidacy by Matt McCarten

Matt McCarten

Matthew "Matt" McCarten is a New Zealand political organiser. He has been involved with several leftist or centre-left political parties, and is also active in the trade-union movement...

, an ex-Party Leader and Founding President. They were unsuccessful and announced instead that electors should not vote for Ms Buchanan and instead vote for McCarten.

Reaction

This by-election was considered a good result by the National Party http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2010/11/the_mana_result.html as Labour's majority had been cut down to 1080 from just over 6,000 at the last election.

Kris Faafoi was "happy with the result; we won ... at the beginning we always said it was going to be a tough race." http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4368697/Kris-Faafoi-wins-Mana-by-election

John Key

John Key

John Phillip Key is the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand, in office since 2008. He has led the New Zealand National Party since 2006....

said "I never thought coming second in politics would feel so good....Sometimes losing is winning and this is one of them where we have had a tremendous result here. In all probability, the swing should have gone against National because that's what happens when you are the Government campaigning in a very safe Labour seat and he has been thrashed. When this campaign began, Phil Goff said this by-election would be referendum on the Government's policies. Well he was right!" http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10689102

Phil Goff said that the result reflects well on Faafoi's hard work and is "one step on the way to getting back to a Labour government".

Many other Labour MPs did not think that they had lost the by election. Su'a William Sio

Su'a William Sio

Su'a William Sio is a politician who became a Member of Parliament in the New Zealand House of Representatives on 1 April 2008 as a New Zealand Labour Party list MP. He currently represents the Māngere electorate seat in Parliament....

said that “The truth is that it is always difficult for most low income families to get involved in a by-election like this and to think about improving the future when they are more concerned about the everyday reality of with putting food on the table and worrying about their kids doing well at school,” http://www.throng.co.nz/

Audrey Young, a New Zealand herald writer, criticised what she called labour's "spin tactics" "Some in Labour who should know better are creatively suggesting that Labour actually did better in the by-election than the last general election, despite having its majority slashed from 6155 to 1080. From three senior figures has come the suggestions that Kris Faafoi winning 47 per cent of the candidate vote on Saturday was a better result than the 43.9 per cent party vote that the party got in 2008, when Winnie Laban stood. That is like comparing raisins and sheep droppings."

However, Grant Robertson

Grant Robertson

Grant Robertson is a New Zealand politician and Member of Parliament. He was elected to represent the Labour Party in the seat of Wellington Central at the 2008 general election. Robertson replaced Marian Hobbs, who had retired....

, a Labour MP, praised Parata by saying "I also think Hekia deserves some credit. She is an articulate person who campaigned hard. Most importantly in terms of the result she has been campaigning/working in the electorate non-stop for about four years, compared to Kris’ few months. That makes a difference. She had a profile and that worked to her advantage. She did not win, but no doubt she feels she put in a good result."

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