Botany by-election, 2011

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Botany by-election, 2011
← 2008 general 5 March 2011 (2011-03-05) 2011 general →
Turnout 15,421 (36.20%)
  Jami-Lee Ross Portrait.jpg
Candidate Jami-Lee Ross Michael Wood Paul Young
Party National Labour New Citizen
Popular vote 8,352 4,380 1,626
Percentage 54.16% 28.40% 10.54%
200px
MP before election

Pansy Wong
National

 Elected MP

Jami-Lee Ross
National

A by-election was held in the New Zealand electorate of Botany on 5 March 2011. The seat was vacated by former National Ethnic Affairs Minister Pansy Wong, who announced her resignation from the New Zealand Parliament on 14 December 2010 following allegations her husband Sammy has misused taxpayer money in relation to overseas travel.[1]

The seat was won by Jami-Lee Ross, retaining the seat for the New Zealand National Party but with a 27% reduction in majority.

Demographics and election history

The Botany electorate was created shortly before the 2008 election and is considered a safe National seat. A third of the population is born overseas and it has a large Chinese population.[2]

Wong won the seat with 17382 (56.22%) votes in the 2008 general election. Labour candidate Koro Tawa was runner-up with 6510 (21.06%) and ACT's Kenneth Wang on 4717 (15.26%). Party votes were National 19355 (61.25%), Labour 7958 (25.18%) and Act 1528 (4.84%).

Candidates

Pamphlets in the by-election. Note the Chinese literature provided by some candidates.

Nominations opened on 2 February and will close at noon on 8 February, with the official list of candidates expected to be published later that day.[3]

National Party

The National Party has selected Jami-Lee Ross, a member of the Auckland Council representing Howick, as their candidate.[4][5] He was selected from a shortlist of five candidates,[4] the other four being former Auckland City councillor Aaron Bhatnagar,[6] media presenter Maggie Barry,[7] Elim Christian College teacher Darron Gedge,[8][9] and health research scientist Edward Saafi.[4]

A total of twelve people had initially put their names forward for the nomination.[10] The list was not released, but was reported to include Denise Krum (a National Party official and former president of United Future),[5] Ram Rai (a National Party official),[9] Ken Yee (former Manukau City councillor and unsuccessful candidate for Manukau East),[9][11] Youngshin Watkins,[9] and Daniel Newman.[9] Other names that had been mentioned in speculation include current list MP Melissa Lee (who unsuccessfully contested the Mount Albert by-election earlier in the parliamentary term), party official Kit Parkinson,[12] and Howick Local Board chairman Michael Williams.[11]

ACT

ACT selected MIT lecturer and Counties Manukau DHB member Lyn Murphy. Murphy calls herself a centrist, who is to the left of Ross and to the right of Wood. She has long championed ACT’s values of smaller Government and greater transparency and accountability. Murphy championed the undergrounding of power lines with success in Bradbury Rd and Cockle Bay, the protection of the Emilia Maude Nixon Garden of Memories, and the restoration of Mangemangeroa Reserve.[citation needed]

Labour Party

The Labour Party has selected Michael Wood, Puketapapa Local Board member, as their candidate.[4] The other two people contesting the nomination were Roy Bootle and David Collings.[4] Collings withdrew before the selection process was completed.[13] Koro Tawa, who contested the seat in the previous general election and had already been selected to contest it in the next one,[14] was reported to be seeking the nomination for the by-election as well,[11] but in the end, was not reported as one of the candidates being considered.[14]

Others

The Green Party selected Richard Leckinger, a former ministerial advisor and researcher at Parliament. However, he was stuck in traffic and could not submit the nomination form in time.[15]

The Pirate Party selected Hussain Al-Saady, a recent university graduate.

The recently founded New Citizen Party selected businessman Paul Young.

Independents include veteran campaigner Penny Bright,[citation needed] translator and former candidate for Puketapapa Local Board Robert Goh,[16] and former candidate for mayor Wayne Young[17]

Campaign

Wood started the campaign by admitting to the local paper in Puketapapa he has no chance of winning,[18] a week later, he told the local paper in Botany he hasn't given up yet.[19] NZPA reported that even that the new New Citizen Party has put up more billboards than him.[20] Wood claims Ross is "too scared" to have a TV debate with him on the "big issues",[19] while making a pledge "to drive penis lollies out of the community".[21]

Meanwhile, National warned against being complacent and taking the election for granted.[22]

Paul Young wants 10% GST, "traditional values in the education system" and "respect for elders".[23]

Bright again campaigned on her theme of open, transparent and democratically accountable governments.[24] She condemned the planned partial privatisation of state assets, saying "partial privatisation is like partial pregnancy – there is no such thing".[25]

Wayne Young, made homeless by the leaky homes crisis, wants building standards to be strengthened.[26]

The Pirate Party left its campaign to the last minute, handing out fliers at 6pm on the day before the election.[27]

Results

Official results as declared on Wednesday 16 March 2011 after special votes were counted.[28] Ross resigned his seat on the Auckland Council on the Monday after the election.

Botany by-election, 2011

Notes: Green background denotes the winner of the by-election.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list prior to the by-election.
Yellow background denotes the winner of the by-election, who was a list MP prior to the by-election.
A Green tickY or Red XN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
National Jami-Lee Ross 8,352 54.25 -1.97
Labour Michael Wood 4,380 28.45 +7.39
New Citizen Paul Young 1,626 10.56
ACT Lyn Murphy 687 4.46 -10.80
Independent Penny Bright 128 0.83
Legalise Cannabis Leo Biggs 61 0.40
Independent Wayne Young 54 0.35
Join Australia Robin Caithness 45 0.29
Pirate Hussain Al-saady 32 0.21
Independent Robert Goh 31 0.20
Informal votes 25 0.16
Total Valid votes 15,396 35.84
National hold Majority 3,972 25.76 -9.40


Alleged illegal campaigning

New Zealand law prohibits campaigning on election day. It is alleged that the United Chinese Press newspaper published a front page article on election day endorsing Paul Young. It is further alleged the paper ran an ad in the same edition for the New Citizen Party.[29] The editor of the United Chinese Press insists the newspaper in question was printed on the day before, and therefore legal.[30]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "labourrd3" defined multiple times with different content
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 http://www.webcitation.org/5wPr8WdPx
  20. ↑ http://www.webcitation.org/5wPLQ4xpH
  21. ↑ http://www.webcitation.org/5wRNCxVVr
  22. ↑ http://www.webcitation.org/5wPLXirmI
  23. ↑ http://www.webcitation.org/5wM5ajpaE
  24. ↑ http://www.webcitation.org/5wPLDhdAA
  25. ↑ http://www.webcitation.org/5wZxNhuvx
  26. ↑ http://www.webcitation.org/5wPL0VfPI
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Campaign sites

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