Voting is still open until 12pm on December 10. Photo / Bevan Conley
Voting is still open until 12pm on December 10. Photo / Bevan Conley
The Hamilton West by-election is in its final days, but there is still time for you to have your say on who you want to be your local MP.
So far, more than 6900 people have voted at advance voting places across the electorate but you can help raise thatnumber: There are eight voting places open today and 20 voting places will be open on election day tomorrow.
Preliminary results for the Hamilton West by-election will be published as they come through after 7pm on Saturday at www.electionresults.govt.nz.
The Electoral Commission is strongly encouraging voters to have their say on who will represent them in Parliament.
Chief electoral officer Karl Le Quesne says: “Election day in the Hamilton West by-election is this Saturday 10 December, so there are only a few more days of voting left.
Different from a general election where you have two votes, one for a party and the other for your local candidate, there is only one vote in this by-election. Voters only select the candidate they want to be the local Member of Parliament, there is no party vote.
The Hamilton West electorate comprises the Hamilton city suburbs west of the Waikato River as well as Woodridge and parts of Flagstaff, which are east of the river. Graphic / Supplied
If people can’t get to a voting place due to health or mobility reasons, they can call the freephone to arrange a postal or takeaway vote when someone picks up the voting papers.
Voters who are blind or visually impaired and are therefore unable to mark their voting paper, can vote using telephone dictation after having registered for this special form of voting.
Only those enrolled in the Hamilton West general electorate are eligible to vote at the dedicated voting sites. Postal voting is not available.
The Hamilton West electorate comprises the Hamilton City suburbs west of the Waikato River including Melville, Frankton, Nawton, Pukete and Te Rapa. It also includes Woodridge and parts of Flagstaff, which are east of the Waikato River.
Labour candidate Georgie Dansey, National candidate Tama Potaka and former Labour MP Gaurav Sharma who now represents his New Zealand Momentum Party. Photos / Supplied
As of October 31, there were 47,911 people enrolled in Hamilton West on the general electoral roll.
The by-election was forced by the resignation of former Labour MP Dr Gaurav Sharma, who won the Hamilton West seat in 2020 and was recently expelled from the Labour Party’s caucus after a series of allegations he made against members of the party.
The candidates vying to represent the electorate until the next parliamentary election last next year include Labour candidate Georgie Dansey, National candidate Tama Potaka and Act candidate Dr James McDowall, as well as Sharma himself.
Act candidate James McDowall, The Opportunities Party (TOP) candidate Naomi Pocock and NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party's Donna Pokere-Phillips. Photos / Supplied
Also standing are recent Hamilton City Council candidates Rudi Du Plooy, who now represents the New Conservative Party and One Party, and Donna Pokere-Phillips, for the NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party who ran unsuccessfully for the Hamilton mayoralty and as a Kirikiriroa Māori Ward candidate.
Other candidates are Naomi Pocock for The Opportunities Party (TOP), who stood unsuccessfully in Hamilton East for the party in the 2020 general election, Jade Tait for Vision New Zealand, Peter Wakeman for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party, Richard Osmaston for the Money Free Party and independent candidates Frank Fu and Gordon Dickson.
