By-election: Voters can cast ballot

On the first day of voting in the Hamilton West by-election, five candidates will front up for a debate in front of a business crowd.

Advance voting started this morning. Voters can cast their ballot at any of the eight polling booths across the electorate from today and the number of polling places will rise to 20 by December 10. Twelve candidates are set to contest the by-election, called after former Labour MP Dr Gaurav Sharma stood down from Parliament in October after tabling allegations of bullying against senior Labour Party members.

Sharma, standing in the by-election as the candidate for his newly formed party, Momentum New Zealand, will be joined by National’s Tama Potaka, Labour’s Georgie Dansey, ACT’s Dr James McDowall and The Opportunities Party’s Dr Naomi Pocock, on stage at the Atrium at 5pm tonight for a debate hosted by the Waikato Chamber of Commerce.

The by-election has thus far been coloured by crime, cost-ofliving and slip-ups from inexperienced candidates trying to find their feet.

Georgie Dansey was spotted briefly at a Tertiary Education Union protest of her party’s own Health Minister, Andrew Little, earlier this month, while Tama Potaka was quoted as describing Labour’s housing policies, those his party decries, as ‘‘awesome’’.

The debate will be an opportunity for candidates to express how they would deal to the dual dilemmas of rampant, high-profile retail crime, and an impending recession engineered by the Reserve Bank in an attempt to rein in inflation.

‘‘Hamilton West is a key electorate for the Waikato,’’ chamber of commerce chief executive Don Good said. ‘‘Business will look forward to a candidate coming through there that will give Hamilton and the Waikato a voice.’’