Election date not hurrying National

"We are quite comfortable. Everybody is on the same page and it's just about picking the right person." Rob Woodhouse, National Party electorate chairman

Palmerston North’s National Party committee is relaxed about not yet having a candidate for the general election, despite an election date being set.

Prime Minister Bill English announced on Wednesday that New Zealand would go to the polls on September 23.

The latest an election could have been held was November 18.

When making the announcement, English said he was announcing the date early to provide the country some certainty.

‘‘It’s in everyone’s best interest to have plenty of notice.’’

Labour has already selected Iain-lees Galloway as its Palmerston North candidate, but the city is still waiting on National’s.

It’s 2014 candidate, Jono Naylor, who made it to Parliament on the back of National’s strong party vote, announced in November he would not contest the election.

It is a familiar situation for National’s Palmerston North committee.

They have not stood the same candidate in back-to-back elections since Malcolm Plimmer was defeated in 2005 and 2008.

National’s Palmerston North electorate chairman Rob Woodhouse said the need to select candidates in many electorates nearby, with a number of National MPS calling it quits this year, had dragged out the process.

A candidate would be selected sometime in March, but Woodhouse was not worried as Naylor was not selected until May 2014.

‘‘We are quite comfortable. Everybody is on the same page and it’s just about picking the right person.’’

Palmerston North-based New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball, who also got into Parliament in 2014 on the back of his party’s vote, has not yet been confirmed as the party’s candidate.

However, he said on Wednesday he was the only nominee so far.

The party had been planning for this year’s election since 2014, hoping to springboard off the back of having an electorate office and MP in the city for the first time, he said.

Lees-galloway said going to the polls in September was no problem, as Labour had been planning for an election as early as June. He was not concerned about who National’s candidate might be.