Rangit¯ıkei gets its first female MP
Suze Redmayne aims to be ‘hands on’
National’s Suze Redmayne will become Rangit¯ıkei’s first female MP. Redmayne secured 16,304 votes, more than double Labour candidate Zulfiqar Butt’s 7678 votes, preliminary results show.
While Rangit¯ıkei is considered one of the safest National seats, Redmayne said she was proud of herself and her team for running a strong local campaign, and Saturday night’s result was the payoff for the work they had put in. “There’s never been a female MP for Rangit¯ıkei, so that’s pretty cool,” Redmayne said.
Redmayne won the National Party nomination after previous MP Ian McKelvie retired after four terms.
“Although there’s more votes to come in, I think it’s very clear that New Zealanders voted for change,” Redmayne said.
Her immediate plans were to advocate for a continuous 24-hour police presence in Feilding.
She also wanted to do whatever she could to help with the financial strife facing Ruapehu Alpine Lifts.
“I’ve been to a few meetings about that, and I’m keen to get my head around what happens and try to get things fixed and do what I can do, with their support obviously, but [I will] listen to what they want and certainly advocate on their behalf to get some sort of resolution.”
She said she had experience in the politics of the electorate from working part-time with the previous two
MPs, so was somewhat prepared for her new role. “I want to be a really hands-on, approachable MP.”
Meanwhile, Butt spent election day at home.
“My car was wrapped in my election banner, so I hid my car in my garage and have been waiting at home all day,” Butt said.
He said both the Rangit¯ıkei and
Palmerston North campaign teams for Labour spent election night together at the Takaro Bowling Club in Palmerston North.
“From listening and talking to the people all over the area, it was a very positive response,” Butt said.
“People call it a farmers’ electorate, but even from the farmers, the feedback was very encouraging,” he said.
Of the other candidates for the electorate, Act’s Andrew Hoggard gathered the third-highest number of votes with 4990, followed by New Zealand First candidate Helma Vermuelen with 2647 and Green Party candidate Bernard Long with 2379.