Peters: Will he stand for city

The local New Zealand First committee is itching to get into campaign mode _ but it doesn't know whether it has a candidate for the Tauranga seat in this year's election.
Party leader and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has arrived home from Britain but is staying mum over whether he will stand for the Tauranga electorate.
Roy Townhill, chairman of NZ First in Tauranga, said the party was eagerly waiting to hear from Mr Peters and hoped he would put his supporters' minds at rest soon.
'I'm hoping Winston's going to make it at our annual meeting on May 25, and a lot of people will be relieved when he makes his announcement," said Mr Townhill.
"People feel in their own minds he will commit, but you know, Winston is Winston, and he'll do it in his time."
Asked if that was acceptable among the party, Mr Townhill said: "We want to get active and motivated. The election is only five months away and certainly we'll be asking him to commit at the annual meeting."
Party activist and executive member Ralph Maxwell said he suspected Mr Peters would stand but wouldn't be surprised if he didn't.
"They may elect to run just a very strong presidential-type election," he said.
Under New Zealand First's constitution, candidates must contest an electorate if they are standing for Parliament.
The Tauranga field was opened up when present MP Bob Clarkson _ who beat Mr Peters by 730 votes in 2005 _ announced last Friday he would not contest the next general election.
It left Labour's Anne Pankhurst, Kiwi Party leader and former list MP Larry Baldock, and The Republicans' Hans Laven as confirmed candidates.
Mr Baldock, a United Future MP in the previous term, said:
"I don't think Winston knows what he's doing. If he was confident of winning Tauranga then he would have announced it by now.
"He got beaten last time because people here got tired of him. He does play games and who knows what he's thinking."
Mr Baldock said Tauranga needed an MP who could negotiate with the next Prime Minister and represent the city properly. The Kiwi Party has stated it won't support Labour.
The National and Green parties are going through the process of selecting candidates.
Green Party Bay of Plenty branch co-convenor, Ron Lopert, said they had a candidate in mind, but he hadn't been formally selected. The potential runner is Dr Michael Morris, a marine studies lecturer at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic in Tauranga.
Mr Clarkson's electoral agent, Glenn Harris, said at present he knew of three people wanting to become the National Party candidate _ but nominations closed on May 23.
They have to collect 10 signatures from party members to back their nomination, and so far only two _ Crown prosecutor Simon Bridges and Tauranga city councillor Greg Brownless _ have publicly announced they are chasing the seat.
Mr Harris said a possible candidate from Wellington had pulled out.