Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Taupō Labour candidate Al-Bustanji proud of electorate's swing to red

Laurilee McMichael
By Laurilee McMichael
Editor·Taupo & Turangi Weekender·
21 Oct, 2020 07:32 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Labour Party Taupo electorate candidate Ala' Al-Bustanji (right) with party leader Jacinda Ardern during her visit to Project H site at Mokai Power Station, near Taupō last month. Photo /Andrew Warner

Labour Party Taupo electorate candidate Ala' Al-Bustanji (right) with party leader Jacinda Ardern during her visit to Project H site at Mokai Power Station, near Taupō last month. Photo /Andrew Warner

The Labour Party's Taupō electorate candidate Ala' Al-Bustanji says he has been able to catch up on some missed sleep between election day and his return to work yesterday.

In his second tilt at the Taupō seat, Al-Bustanji was unsuccessful in toppling the electorate's incumbent National Party MP Louise Upston from her spot but did reduce Upston's majority from 14,335 votes in the 2017 election to 5254 this year, according to provisional results.

However, he was pleased that overall the Taupō electorate went to Labour in the party vote, with 43.8 per cent of the vote compared to National's 33.8 per cent of the vote, the first time Labour has won the party vote in the electorate since 2002.

Al-Bustanji said although it had been a tough campaign, made more difficult by Covid-19 restrictions which prevented public meetings and large gatherings, he was happy with the overall results.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"This is a huge victory for Labour and a huge victory for New Zealand. This is a team that has been looking after New Zealand and now we have the chance to continue doing that with a strong team and more power, this is history really," he said.

"And when it comes to our electorate we also made history with our party vote. We won the party vote for the first time in more than 15 years and won it by a landslide, it's really big ... and with the candidate vote the margin's gone down by 9000 votes and that's massive. That means next time we can turn it around and actually win the seat.

"This is now a marginal seat, believe it or not. The time of the National MP enjoying the huge relaxed majority is now history."

However, Al-Bustanji congratulated Upston on her win and said she had a tough job ahead of her.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said despite campaigning being a lot of work, he also enjoyed it.

"We ran a positive campaign, a respectful campaign ... for me the good times were far more than the tough times.

"Definitely I was hoping to become the MP and I know there was a chance and we didn't get there but I'm happy not just because this is a huge win for Labour in total and not just because we won the party vote here.

"I'm also happy because I have more mates in Parliament to provide more Labour presence in this electorate and more support and help, and hopefully we can help this community to achieve more."

Discover more

Taupō's biggest family event saved from Covid crunch

13 Oct 11:00 PM

Five acts for this year's Summer Concert line-up

14 Oct 04:00 PM

Pair hit 1000 balls in bid to give away $10,000

14 Oct 04:00 PM

Stolen car spiked, chased through Taupō

14 Oct 10:12 PM

Al-Bustanji said he was happy to return to his job as a corrections officer this week.

"I'm going back to a workplace that I really love and people that I have great respect for and they are like my family. They have been very supportive and I'm really looking forward to being back to a job that I love being part of."

He said he would put his hand up for the Taupō Labour Party candidacy in 2023 and hoped the party would select him again.

In the meantime, he was looking forward to hearing the results of the special votes, which he was optimistic would result in extra votes for Labour.

Subscribe to Premium
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

live
Rotorua Daily Post

Fresh flood threat as thunderstorms, gales lash north; south braces for another deluge

10 Jul 08:04 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

'Give Paea a chance': Wife's tearful plea for Tongan overstayer

10 Jul 08:02 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

SPCA alarmed about rise in staff abuse, threats to kill pets

10 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Fresh flood threat as thunderstorms, gales lash north; south braces for another deluge
live

Fresh flood threat as thunderstorms, gales lash north; south braces for another deluge

10 Jul 08:04 PM

Electrical storms are set to hit at evening rush as Auckland braces for 16 hours of rain.

'Give Paea a chance': Wife's tearful plea for Tongan overstayer

'Give Paea a chance': Wife's tearful plea for Tongan overstayer

10 Jul 08:02 PM
SPCA alarmed about rise in staff abuse, threats to kill pets

SPCA alarmed about rise in staff abuse, threats to kill pets

10 Jul 05:00 PM
'Stop this madness': Police promise crackdown on illegal dirt bikers

'Stop this madness': Police promise crackdown on illegal dirt bikers

10 Jul 03:52 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP