Editorial: Voters get to quiz Whanganui election contenders

Mark Dawson, editor of Wanganui Chronicle

WHO said elections were boring?

With three party leaders already casualties of the 2017 campaign, the contest is suddenly injecting a fair bit of excitement into what might have been a rather grey affair.

Here in Whanganui, with the retirement of maverick warhorse Chester Borrows, we will have a new MP and the late arrival on the battlefield of New Zealand First means five parties are bidding for your vote.

A majority of more than 4000 saw the National Party home and hosed three years ago, and that result - coupled with the Government's steady national polling - makes newcomer Harete Hipango the favourite to take the region's issues to the Beehive after the September 23 ballot.

However, the Jacinda Ardern effect is likely to have some traction here and will boost Labour candidate Steph Lewis' hopes.

For the Greens Nicola Patrick - and also for Alan Davidson from the Act Party and Reg Skipworth for NZ First - it will be about maximising the party vote.

Of course, there will be a number of you out there who have not yet decided which box you will tick - and the undecideds may yet determine the outcome.

So to help you get a feel for the issues and for who will best represent Whanganui at Parliament, the Chronicle is holding a candidates forum.

It will be at the Whanganui War Memorial Centre on the evening of Friday, September 15, and it will also involve the candidates standing for the Maori electorate of Te Tai Hauauru - sitting Labour MP Adrian Rurawhe, Maori Party's Howie Tamati and Jack McDonald from the Green Party.

The candidates will make their pitches and then it will be the public's turn to put them on the spot with questions that will hopefully show where they stand on issues like housing, clean water, education, economic development and climate change.

Your presence and your questions are particularly welcome - so make a note in the diary.