Yule ranking: Only reason why is 'Y'

National Party Tukituki candidate Lawrence Yule, ranked No 67, because the surname starts with "Y". Photo / File

Parliamentary aspirant Lawrence Yule is unworried by a basement ranking on the National Party list which some may have seen as a campaign speed-wobble just 54 days out from the September 23 General Election.

Mr Yule, who's just ended a 22-year local bodies career which included 15 as mayor of Hastings and nine as president of nationwide local bodies lobby Local Government New Zealand, has been ranked No 67 on the list of 75 announced yesterday.

He is last of the party's electorate candidates apart from a yet-to-be named Clutha-Southland candidate replacing MP-in-exit Todd Barclay.

But, it's not all that it seems, the party having ranked its current cabinet 1-21, followed by other MPs, down to new candidates in National-held seats, in alphabetical order.

In the case of the candidate for Hastings-based Tukituki electorate, the candidate, following a retiring incumbent who had a 6490-votes majority at the last election in 2014, has a surname starting with "Y".

Mr Yule will defend outgoing MP Craig Foss' majority against second-time Labour Party hopeful Anna Lorck, who is ranked No 45 on her party's list.

"It's about where I thought I would be," Mr Yule said, adding: "I want to make a difference in Wellington where I couldn't as mayor. I pretty much know what the issues are, from being mayor, and I never wanted to just have some cushy List seat."

Havelock North-based political commentator Simon Lusk said Mr Yule has been grouped with other National candidates who need to win their seats to get to Parliament.

"On current projections National will have few, if any, new MPs (from the List)," he said yesterday. "Once you get below 50 on the list the actual position matters little."

National currently has 59 seats, comprising 40 in the electorates and 19 from its 2014 list and a 47.04 per cent share of the party vote.

Analysts are currently predicting the National vote share will be about 10 per cent less in the count on election night, based on a Roy Morgan Research poll three weeks ago.

National's new Napier candidate, David Elliot, who challenges incumbent Labour MP Stuart Nash, is ranked 55 on the National list, and Wairarapa MP Alastair Scott is at No 46.

Mr Elliot said he hadn't been expecting anything particular from the list, and hadn't been aware of the rankings until he returned home last night from overseas.

On the Labour Party list announced in May, Mr Nash was ranked No 10, and Wairarapa's Kieran McAnulty No 37.

Labour candidate for Tukituki Anna Lorck declined to comment.