Voting for the Hamilton West byelection starts on November 28 and ends on December 10. Photo / Bevan Conley
Voting for the Hamilton West byelection starts on November 28 and ends on December 10. Photo / Bevan Conley
The byelection for Hamilton West, caused by the resignation of former Labour MP Dr Gaurav Sharma, is approaching fast with voting starting as early as November 28.
After candidate nominations closed yesterday, the Electoral Commission confirmed 12 candidates are standing for the seat.
The candidates vying to represent the electorate for the next 10 months until the next parliamentary election in September include Labour candidate Georgie Dansey, National candidate Tama Potaka and Act candidate Dr James McDowall, as well as Sharma himself.
The byelection was forced by the resignation of Sharma who won the Hamilton West seat in 2020 and was recently expelled from the Labour Party's caucus after a series of allegations he made against members of the party.
Sharma is standing as a candidate for his new New Zealand Momentum Party.
Dansey (Ngāti Tūwharetoa) ran on the party list for Labour in 2020 and is the chief executive of the Independent Schools Education Association and owns Body Fit Training in Te Awamutu.
Labour candidate Georgie Dansey, National candidate Tama Potaka and former Labour MP Gaurav Sharma who now represents his New Zealand Momentum Party. Photos / Supplied
Potaka, who was Auckland-based up until last week, is the chief executive of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki and previously worked as a general manager for Hamilton-based Tainui Group Holdings.
McDowall entered Parliament as a list MP in 2020 after unsuccessfully contesting the Hamilton East electorate in 2017 and the Waikato electorate in 2020.
The Greens, NZ First and Te Pāti Māori have not entered a candidate.
Also standing in the byelection are recent Hamilton City Council candidates Rudi Du Plooy who now represents the New Conservative Party and One Party, and Donna Pokere-Phillips for the NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party who ran unsuccessfully for the Hamilton mayoralty and as a Kirikiriroa Māori Ward candidate.
Other candidates are Naomi Pocock for The Opportunities Party (TOP) who stood unsuccessfully for Hamilton East for the party in the 2020 general election, Jade Tait for Vision New Zealand, Peter Wakeman for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party, Richard Osmaston for the Money Free Party and independent candidates Frank Fu and Gordon Dickson.
Act candidate James McDowall, The Opportunities Party (TOP) candidate Naomi Pocock and NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party's Donna Pokere-Phillips. Photos / Supplied
Voting opens on Monday, November 28 and ends at 7pm on Saturday, December 10 which has been announced as election day.
Only those enrolled in the Hamilton West electorate are eligible to vote. The Hamilton West electorate comprises the Hamilton city suburbs west of the Waikato River including Melville, Frankton, Nawton, Pukete and Te Rapa. It also includes Woodridge and parts of Flagstaff, which are east of the Waikato River.
On election day, there will be 20 voting places open from 9am. There is also a limited number of places that offer voting before election day. For a list of those and for more information visit the vote.nz website.
The Hamilton West electorate comprises the Hamilton city suburbs west of the Waikato River as well as Woodridge and parts of Flagstaff, which are east of the river. Graphic / Supplied
Postal voting will not be available.
Since it is a byelection, people only have one vote for the candidate they want to be the local representative in Parliament. In a general election, people vote for a party as well as a local candidate.
The byelection will use the First Past the Post system where the candidate with the most votes wins the seat.
Each byelection costs the taxpayer an estimated $1 million, the Electoral Commission said previously.
