Low poll as Labour easily holds seat
Labour’s Michael Wood romped home to win the Mt Roskill by-election in Auckland at the weekend, with a margin of 6518 votes over National’s Parmjeet Parmar.
Wood received 11,170 votes, while Parmar received 4652.
‘‘It is a good night to be Labour in Mt Roskill . . . It is a good night for everyone in this community who believes that every man, woman and family should have decent, affordable housing,’’ Wood said.
He pledged to invest in the police and build a ‘‘firstworld’’ public transport system for Aucklanders.
The Mt Roskill seat was previously held by Labour stalwart Phil Goff, who vacated it in October after winning the Auckland mayoralty.
National Party campaign manager Steven Joyce said the race had gone as he expected.
‘‘Obviously [Parmar] would have liked to get a better result . . . but the odds [were] pretty much stacked against her.
‘‘I think for us it was a good hit-out for the team. I think they campaigned well,’’ Joyce said.
‘‘It was just that it was always going to be very hard to get our voters to turn out when they knew that we in all likelihood wouldn’t win the by-election.’’
Prime Minister John Key said Parmar had ‘‘fought a hard campaign’’ that focused on the issues that matter.
‘‘By-elections are always tough, especially when the seat has been held by your opponent’s party for some time. It was certainly as expected - we didn’t think we’d win and we didn’t win.’’
Other parties’ decisions not to stand a candidate had worked in Labour’s favour, while the 38.5 per cent turnout showed voters were not interested.
‘‘The Greens didn’t show up, NZ First didn’t show up and actually the voters didn’t show up, so you’ve had one of the lowest turnouts we’ve really seen in a mainstream by-election.’’
Key also pointed to history, saying no incumbent government ‘‘in the history of New Zealand’’ had ever won a seat they did not hold in a byelection.
He denied the loss was a sign of National’s waning popularity, saying ‘‘you can’t really take anything out of a by-election’’.
‘‘Labour will want to say somehow this has been good for them, but if it is, it’s a pretty low bar really . . . it doesn’t take away from the fact that they’re polling in the mid-20s and that’s how they’re going to end the year.’’
However, he defended Parmar’s campaign, saying his visits to Mt Roskill were a show of confidence in her work.
‘‘We never thought we’d win, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t go and support a member who did a really good job. She worked hard, she performed well and I think she did an excellent job of what she was trying to do.’’
The final voter turnout was 16,857, compared with the 33,933 votes cast in Mt Roskill in the 2014 general election.
Official results - including special declarations and overseas votes - will be declared on December 14.
PRELIMINARY RESULTS: Michael Wood (Labour) 11,170; Parmjeet Parmar (National) 4652; Roshan Nauhria (People’s Party) 709; Andrew Leitch (Democrats for Social Credit) 125; Brandon Stronge (Cannabis Party) 79; Richard Goode (Not a Party) 40; Tua Schuster (Independent) 32. NZ