Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce chief executive Wayne Walford will not be putting his hand up to represent the National Party in the Napier electorate in next year's general election.
Mr Walford was the party's candidate for Napier in the 2014 general election, defending the seat vacated by retiring party colleague Chris Tremain, but lost out to Labour's Stuart Nash.
He said his decision not to stand again came about partly from bad timing.
"I was hoping the selection would have been made before now - it got a bit tight with the investment of time and money involved - I believe I had a chance to win but things were not stacking up."
He also cited concerns over whether he was the right person to represent the people of the electorate, given the debate surrounding the recent local body elections.