Maharey scoffs at leadership speculation

Steve Maharey

Palmerston North MP Steve Maharey has scoffed at suggestions he could be in the running to lead the Labour Party if Prime Minister Helen Clark stands down.

The Labour Party number three said a theory advanced by Victoria University political scientist Nigel Roberts in a Sunday newspaper is an example of pundits "making themselves useful" to the media.

Dr Roberts is picking Mr Maharey and Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff as the MPs "first in line" to take over.

But Mr Maharey says Helen Clark is "absolutely rock solid" and there is "absolutely no question" she will remain as leader.

He believes such speculation is "irrelevant" given the Labour leader has just led the party to a historic third term in power.

The counting of special votes -- completed at the weekend -- saw Mr Maharey increase his election-night majority in his electorate by about 500 votes, to 5500.

Mr Maharey does, however, think a "facelift" for the Labour Cabinet is timely.

Although he believes Michael Cullen will retain the finance portfolio, other Cabinet posts could be up for grabs.

Meanwhile, an anxious two-week wait has come to an end for Otaki MP Darren Hughes.

Mr Hughes held his seat -- in the tightest electorate race in the country -- by 226 votes on election night, but the counting of special votes boosted his majority to 382.

The final tally saw an 84.78 per cent voter turnout in the Otaki electorate, higher than turnouts in Rangitikei (82.98 per cent) and Palmerston North (82.40 per cent).

The runner-up to Mr Hughes, National candidate Nathan Guy, has made it into Parliament on the National list.

Mr Hughes said yesterday he had spent the past two weeks in a "philosophical" frame of mind, knowing that the special votes had been cast and the matter was out of his hands.

"I just had to have faith that the local people would stay with Labour."

He believes a number of the special votes would have been cast by students living outside the electorate who would have probably voted to maintain the status quo.

Overseas voters would also have voted Labour, as expatriates were most likely to prefer Labour's nuclear-free and independent foreign policy platforms, he said.

In Rangitikei, National incumbent Simon Power added 600 votes to his election night tally, for a final majority of 9660.

Final vote counting saw National drop one MP to finish with 48 seats in the House. Labour held its 50 seats from election night.

- NZPA