KEY POINTS:
Parliament's oldest MP Jim Anderton has confirmed he will serve a three-year term even if he doesn't get to be part of the next Government.
The Progressive Party leader has been a minister in Labour-led governments for the past nine years.
There has been speculation that Mr Anderton might retire instead of going into opposition if Labour does not form the next government.
This would force an early by-election in his Christchurch electorate.
However, the Press in Christchurch reported today that Mr Anderton ruled out stepping aside before 2011.
Mr Anderton told a Press leaders' forum yesterday that he had thought long and hard about whether to stand in this election, and that he would only have done so if he was prepared to serve a full three-year term either in government or opposition.
"The question is, if you lose will you just leave, and the answer is no," Mr Anderton said.
"If I was going to do that I wouldn't have stood at all. It's unfair to put people through an election and if you don't win it you say, 'Oh well, I'm out of here', and you have another one. That's just ridiculous."
Mr Anderton is the sole Progressive MP in Parliament, and his party's survival almost depends on him retaining his seat.
In 2005, Anderton held Wigram with a comfortable 8548 majority, but the Progressive Party narrowly failed to get enough votes to elect the second candidate on their party list, Matt Robson.
The party is barely registering on opinion polls.
- NZPA
