National party pesident vote holds no fears for Slater

By AUDREY YOUNG political reporter

The National Party president, John Slater, says he has had no pressure to withdraw from the presidential battle with Michelle Boag despite murmurings that the vote will overshadow the Auckland conference next month.

And as the fight for the presidency heats up, the party's rules committee has had to intervene to sort out a crucial voting issue.

It has clarified just how many votes the party's special interest groups can exercise at the conference - where every vote could make the difference.

Mr Slater says his opponents might want him to withdraw but no one apart from the Herald had raised it with him.

He is considered the underdog after winning only one regional conference nomination out of five. His total vote was 70 fewer than Michelle Boag's tally of 414.

But his opponents believe he may boost his support through the special interest groups - which was why there was concern over the voting entitlements.

One MP, who did not want to be named, said, "If I were John, I would quit now and accept the accolades of a party truly grateful for the contribution he has made."

Another MP said the presidential contest could dominate the conference when the party wanted to prepare the ground for its so-called spring offensive.

But an MP who supports Mr Slater said the race was still wide open and expected it to run to the vote.

Mr Slater said it was inevitable the contest would "command a large portion of conference's time and effort."

"I'm sure there will be those in the other camp who will be trying to persuade people to tell me I should step down but no one at this stage has suggested that."

His "wild card" was that the smaller delegations at the national conference could be quite different in their voting to the larger regional conference delegations.

Mr Slater said he could not say whether the special interest groups - under such headings as environment, defence, health, agriculture, Christian Voice, Asia, and Pacific Island - favoured him.

But they are said by Boag supporters to be a potential vote booster for Mr Slater, along with about 40 votes of members of the national committees.

A legal opinion from a Slater supporter interpreted the rules in a way that could have given special interest groups a maximum of more than 200 voting delegates.

An early view from the party's rules committee has said that the maximum number of delegates from special groups was 67 - the number of electorates in the country.

"We've sought clarification from the rules committee in terms of the interpretation of the rules because one person in one region read the rule in a different manner," said Mr Slater.

The committee had ruled that no special interest group could have more than six delegates, and that no region could have more than the number of electorates in its region.