Byelection date

The Northcote byelection will be on June 9, a week before Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s baby is due. “There’s a reason it’s not on June 17, which is my due date,” she told reporters when making the announcement yesterday. The byelection is to replace Jonathan Coleman, who resigned from Parliament, effective April 15. It has been a safe National seat, but Ardern says Labour is in no way resigned to it staying that way.