Party president high on Alliance list

By HELEN TUNNAH

Alliance president Matt McCarten has been given a high placing on the party's list for the coming election, but under present polling even he may struggle to be elected.

Mr McCarten, the party strategist and former Auckland mayoral candidate who is making his first bid for Parliament, is at number three on the list released yesterday.

Three Alliance MPs take the other places in the top four.

Leader Laila Harre is ranked first, ahead of her deputy and Mana Motuhake leader, Willie Jackson. MP Liz Gordon is fourth.

A surprise at number nine is Christchurch list MP Kevin Campbell, who had been undecided whether he would stand for Parliament again after the acrimonious split in the Alliance that resulted in former leader Jim Anderton and five other MPs being expelled.

Mr Campbell was an Anderton loyalist, and had been tipped to eventually succeed him in the Christchurch electorate of Wigram.

Ms Harre told the Herald she was "extremely pleased" that Mr Campbell would remain an Alliance candidate.

She said Mr McCarten had been reluctant to take a high place on the list, but the Alliance wanted its rankings to reflect its leadership.

The list stretches to 49, with all electorate candidates ranked, and Ms Harre dismissed suggestions that it was optimistic to expect several MPs to be elected.

A Herald-DigiPoll survey released today ranks the "Alliance without Anderton" at just 0.4 per cent, below the Anderton faction at 0.7 per cent.

"It's all margin-of-error stuff," Ms Harre said.

"Given the extraordinary recent history of the Alliance it's impossible to tell where we're going to be by the polls."

She said Mr Anderton's decision to leave the Alliance but to not stand down as its parliamentary leader had created enormous confusion.

"It's not at all clear to us what our potential is in the election. We think we can realistically get more than 5 per cent of the vote."

The Alliance's best hopes of getting MPs elected may be for Ms Harre to win the Waitakere electorate or for Mr Jackson to win the new Maori seat of Tainui.

The party's top 10:

1. Laila Harre, MP.

2. Willie Jackson, MP.

3. Matt McCarten, president.

4. Liz Gordon, MP.

5. Tricia Cutforth.

6. Gerard Hehir.

7. Vern Winitana.

8. Rebecca Matthews.

9. Kevin Campbell, MP.

10. Naida Glavish.