Fewer than 15,000 of almost 50,000 voters bother to vote

Waikato Herald

12 Dec, 2022 03:25 AM3 mins to read

Labour candidate Georgie Dansey congratulates National's Tama Potaka on the byelection win. Photo / Mike Scott

Although there are almost 50,00 registered Parliamentary voters in the Hamilton West electorate, there was just over 14,000 votes counted in Saturday’s byelection.

The National Party’s Tama Potaka won the seat with just 6629 votes, just 2285 votes ahead of Labour’s Georgie Dansey, who placed second with 4344 votes.

There was a total of 12 candidates in the byelection, although some were hardly in the race with four only managing votes in double figures, and one, Richard Osmaston of the Money Free Party, scoring only a single figure total with seven votes. Another three candidates came in with votes in just triple figures,

Potaka won by a 2285 vote majority over Labour’s Georgie Dansey, when the Electoral Commission released the preliminary results late on Saturday.

Act’s James McDowall came in third with 1462, while former Hamilton West MP Gaurav Sharma, whose resignation triggered the byelection, finished fourth with 1156 votes.

Potaka said: “I am pretty happy. I am pretty happy to be given the opportunity by the hardworking people of Hamilton West.

“I will be a strong voice for them in Parliament.”

National leader Christopher Luxon arrived shortly after the win was announced and told reporters it was a “fantastic result”.

“I am really excited for Tama and the National Party. It’s a fantastic time.”

Posting on Facebook yesterday, Dansey thanked supporters for their efforts throughout her campaign.

“[Although] the polls didn’t go in our favour I am so proud of the work we did in this campaign. We started in difficult circumstances and were able to achieve so much.”

She also congratulated Potaka and all other candidates for standing in the byelection.

“We all did a bloody great job!”

Dansey said she was now focusing on the general election next year.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the Hamilton by-election result was one that Labour expected. Ardern told AM that the Hamilton West seat tends to move around.

”It can be a seat that tends to swing around and not necessarily dependent on where government goes,” she said.

She said they would undoubtedly be taking lessons away from the result.”It has been a hard period for communities, for New Zealand, for us as government – we need to make sure we are totally focused on those issues that New Zealanders want to see us focused on.”

The official results process started yesterday where all votes counted on election night will be recounted. Special declaration votes will be processed and counted. The target to release the official final results for the Hamilton West by-election is next Wednesday, December 21.