Candidate narrowly misses registration

Richard Leckinger. Photo / Supplied

If only Rick Leckinger had a tendency for speeding or running red lights then he might have made the official candidates' list for the Botany byelection next month.

Candidates had to register by noon yesterday, but Mr Leckinger, trumpeted as the Green Party selection the previous evening, had his nomination turned down by the Electoral Commission because one of his two official nominees did not live in the electorate.

After a frantic search for a replacement, Mr Leckinger drove aggressively - but legally - from Botany back to the registration office in Penrose, but was two minutes too late.

"It's heart-breaking for all the Green folk in Botany who worked so hard to make me a candidate," Mr Leckinger said.

"[The nominee] had moved and was a civic-minded lad and updated his details, and he had no idea that he was a block over in the Hunua electorate," Mr Leckinger said.

"I made a mercy dash, and basically hit every red light on Ti Rakau Drive on the way coming back, and I was two minutes late. I was pushing every conceivable limit, but I wasn't going to run any red lights."

Mr Leckinger said he preferred missing the cut to driving dangerously.

"It may have [cost me my chance], but which headline would you prefer? 'Green candidate kills pedestrian driving to office', or 'Oops, and let's just wait till November when the real election begins'."

He had recent personal experience to warn about the dangerous driving.

"I just buried a dear friend, a 19-year-old kid, on Christmas week. She died not drunk, not speeding, but texting. And my driving habits have been significantly different since."

The returning officer was standing on the porch waiting for Mr Leckinger as time ticked on.

"He was literally out there waiting. He was very gracious. And he's got to be scrupulous, let's be fair. That's his job. By the time I got up the lift, I arrived at a closed door," said Mr Leckinger.

He said he could not have registered sooner because he was not officially selected as the Green candidate until the previous night.

What's more, Mr Leckinger was the only person to put his hand up for the Greens ticket, the nominations for which closed last week, but the selection meeting was not held until Monday night.

"There is a formal process and duly notified meetings ... it's a hard lesson for the Greens to learn. Maybe we shouldn't have left our meeting so late.

"I don't blame anybody. The buck stops with me."

Ten parties registered candidates in time and Mr Leckinger joked that without a Green option, the Pirate Party of NZ or the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party might get a few extra votes.

Also standing are Jamie-Lee Ross (National), Michael Wood (Labour), Lyn Murphy (ACT), Robin Caithness (Join Australia Movement Party), Robert Goh, Wayne Young and Penny Bright (independents) and Paul Young (New Citizen Party).

Mr Leckinger will get his chance to campaign in November as the Tamaki nomination for the Green Party.