Meet the candidates

Candidates standing in the Tukituki electorate will be under the spotlight at a Meet the Candidates event organised by Hawke's Bay Today.

The meeting, run in conjunction with NewstalkZB, will be held on Monday at 6pm at Karamu High School in Hastings.

National MP for Tukituki and candidate Craig Foss, Labour's Anna Lorck, Chris Perley of the Green Party, Dr Stephen Jenkinson of the Conservative Party, Romana Manning of Legalise Cannabis Aotearoa and Dick Ryan of the Democrats for Social Credit have all confirmed that they will be attending.

Each candidate will give an opening address in which they will argue why they should be elected as MP. Editor Andrew Austin, who will moderate the debate, will then ask questions on behalf of Hawke's Bay Today readers. Candidates will then be given a chance to make a closing statement.

Mr Austin said he wanted to encourage readers to attend the meeting to get a clear understanding of what each candidate stood for.

"We live in a democracy and a democracy is all about having the right to choose who you want to represent you.

This is your opportunity to get more information to make that decision." There will be a gold coin entry with proceeds going to Cranford Hospice. A straw poll will be conducted after the candidates have had their say and the poll's results will be published in the next day's paper. If you have a question you would like put to the candidates, please email it to editor@hbtoday.co.nz.

Mr Austin said the debate would be the first of three with one being held for the Napier electorate and a third for Ikaroa Rawhiti.All debates form part of Hawke's Bay Today's election coverage and a special election edition will be published on Monday, September 22.