Former president Claire Szabó vs sitting MP Ibrahim Omer in race to replace Grant Robertson

Labour party president Claire Szabo and Ibrahim Omer in 2020. Photo / Mark Mitchelll

Former Labour Party president Claire Szabó and sitting list MP Ibrahim Omer are in the mix to replace Finance Minister Grant Robertson as the Labour candidate in the seat of Wellington Central.

There have been four nominations to be the Labour candidate in what has been considered a safe seat for the party.

Alongside Szabó and Omer, are Gail Duncan and James Little.

Szabó was chief executive of Habitat for Humanity from 2013. She became Labour Party President in 2019 and left the role in 2022.

Omer spent years working as an interpreter in UN-run refugee camps after leaving Eritrea in 2003. He came to Wellington and worked as a cleaner and later represented low paid workers as a union organiser before entering Parliament on the list in 2020.

Gail Duncan is on the board of the Public Health Association of NZ, and has a background as a professional microbiologist, working in the area of food safety.

Little has worked in the Beehive since shortly after Labour came to office, and has been in the Prime Minister’s Office since 2020.

Candidates have been told they cannot speak about the selection to the media.

Omer was approached by the Herald and would not comment saying it was “too early”.

“It’s a process and we have to go through the selection,” he said.

The Greens have performed well in the seat in the past, and councillor Tamatha Paul has been selected as a candidate for the 2023 election, running a two tick campaign to win the seat.