Election 2020: Green Party ranks sitting MPs
Green MP Chlo¨e Swarbrick, famed for her ‘hello boomer’ jibe in Parliament, has been promoted to number three on the party’s list for the 2020 election.
The Green Party candidate list reveals the membership is happy with its current MPs and that a small group of left-wing party members did not have much influence. The small group wanted coleader James Shaw, as well as Swarbrick and Minister Eugenie Sage, out of Parliament by placing them in an unwinnable position on the party list.
However, the confirmed list puts all the current sitting MPs ahead of non-sitting candidates and sees co-leader Marama Davidson (Ta¯maki Makaurau) ranked top with Shaw (Wellington Central) sitting under her at number two.
History shows the Green Party does not do well in campaigns for an electorate seat, so it is the list that dictates which of their MPs enter Parliament after the next election, should they win over 5 per cent of the vote.
The ranking of the list is voted by members in two different stages — first by delegates at a conference for an initial list and then by all 7000 or so Green Party members closer to the election.
Swarbrick (Auckland Central) is listed third, Julie Anne Genter (list only) fourth, Jan Logie (Mana) fifth, Sage (Banks Peninsula) sixth and Golriz Ghahraman (Mt Roskill) seventh.
This is a revision of an initial list seen by Stuff in April that put activist Teanau Tuiono ahead of several sitting MPs in the party. He is now eighth on the list.
Swarbrick told Stuff she was
stoked to be part of a strong team of change makers and campaigners ‘‘raring to do that mahi’’.
‘‘You don’t join the Greens to climb the ranks, to claim status or because you want to be prime minister. You join the Greens because the most important fight is achieving a better future for all of us.’’
Shaw said he was proud to be entering the 2020 race with an exceptional group of people who he was confident could lead the
Greens back into the heart of Government.
Davidson said the returning MPs were joined in the top 20 candidates by young climate fighters fresh off the school strikes, new Ma¯ ori and Pasifika voices, an environmental lawyer, a psychotherapist with a passion for improving access to mental health, and a first-generation Latin American immigrant.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party announced yesterday that it had selected Camilla Belich as its candidate in Epsom — a less high profile choice than Trade Minister David Parker, who stood for the seat in 2017.
Belich, 37, is the wife of former Labour general secretary Andrew Kirton, who had been touted as a prospective candidate.
Kirton, who came under fire in the wake of the Labour Party youth camp allegations, stepped down in 2018 and took up a position in government relations with Air New Zealand.
Belich is an employment lawyer who has worked in law firms and unions in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
ACT confirmed yesterday that two-term incumbent, leader David Seymour, would run again for the Epsom electorate.
ACT traditionally does a deal with National, which promises ACT a clear run at the seat for support in Government. Before the change in leadership last week, National had signalled the same deal would stand for the 2020.