Vote 2020: Election race heats up in Tukituki

Election night 2017 when Lawrence Yule was elected MP for Tukituki for the first time. Three years later he is expected to have at least seven opponents at the ballot box. Photo / File

At least eight candidates are expected to be in the race for the Tukituki electorate of incumbent MP Lawrence Yule at the general election.

Now likely to be the most widely contested of four electorates across Hawke's Bay – among the 60 electorates nationwide – the numbers have been boosted with the addition of three confirmed either by themselves or by their party.

The New Conservative Party candidate will be Nick McMinn-Collard, 2014 candidate Romana Manning, will stand again for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party, and Allister Tosh, a candidate in the 2017 election and the Hastings Mayoral by-election which followed soon afterwards, will stand again under the banner of the Future Youth Party.

Nominations opened last Monday and close on Friday (August 21). Voting opens on September 5 and closes at 7pm on September 19 (commonly known as polling day, when the majority of voting is done in person at booths in community facilities and schools throughout the country), unless current Covid-19 complications force a delay. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is likely to address that issue today.

Anyone aged 18 or over by or on September 19 is entitled to vote but must be enrolled (ph 0800 367656 or email https://vote.nz/voting/get-ready-to-vote/how-to-vote/), while people on the roll are advised to check their details are correct if they have changed address since the 2017 election.

Under the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) election process in place since 1996, voters have two votes, one for a candidate in their area (electorate) and one for a registered political party.

Associated with the election are two referendums, on the End of Life Choice Act 2019 and the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill.

While official nominations will not be made public by the Electoral Commission until August 22, 23 have indicated they will seek election across the three general electorates and one Māori electorate in the Hawke's Bay region.

Candidates currently known to Hawke's Bay Today are:

Napier (includes Wairoa): Deborah BURNSIDE (New Conservative), James CROW (Green), Judy KENDALL (Act), Stuart NASH (Labour), Katie NIMON (National), John Clive SMITH (Independent).

Tukituki (includes Hastings, Havelock North, Flaxmere): Jan DAFFERN (Act), Anna LORCK (Labour), Romana MANNING (Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis), Nick McMINN-COLLARD (New Conservative), Chris PERLEY (Green), Melanie PETROWSKI (One), Allister TOSH (Future Youth), Lawrence YULE (National).

Wairarapa (includes Central Hawke's Bay, Dannevirke): Mike BUTTERICK (National), Warren BUTTERWORTH (New Conservative), Roger GREENSLADE (Act), Kieran McANULTY (Labour), Ron MARK (NZ First), Celia WADE-BROWN (Green).

Ikaroa Rawhiti (East Coast, Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa): Elisabeth KEREKERE (Green), Heather Te AU SKIPWORTH (Maori), Kelly THURSTON (Outdoors), Meka WHAITIRI (Labour).