Wairarapa Green Party 2020 campaign manager Christine Kernohan was previously owner/manager of Gladstone Vineyard. PHOTO/FILE
KAREN COLTMAN
[email protected]
There are now three confirmed Wairarapa candidates for the General Election on September 19.
Recently appointed Green Party campaign manager Christine Kernohan confirmed on Thursday the party selected its candidate in the first week of May.
But they had not named who it is as they are waiting to launch their campaign in a fortnight.
The Labour Party and NZ First confirmed their candidates much earlier.
Wairarapa list MP Kieran McAnulty and NZ First’s Cabinet minister Ron Mark will both challenge the National Party for a third time.
But the National Party still has no candidate to take over from sitting MP Alastair Scott.
Its selection meetings held around Wairarapa in February and early March were stymied by the covid-19 lockdown. The final selection meeting was canned.
The party hoped to hold an online vote during the lockdown but now aims to hold a final meeting at Copthorne Solway on Sunday, May 30.
Monique Kloeg, Mark Bridges and Mike Butterick are hopeful of selection.
Covid-19 rules around public gatherings do not allow groups of more than 10 people. National is expecting a cabinet announcement on gathering size rules on Monday that will allow it to hold the Copthorne event.
The National Party has been distracted with a sudden leadership challenge. The party caucus met in Wellington yesterday to urgently discuss a possible vote of no confidence in Simon Bridge’s leadership.
A Newshub-Reid Research Poll gave National 30.6 per cent of the vote should an election be held now.
The following UMR poll had the party at 29 per cent, which is the lowest rating in a decade, and that was matched in Thursday night’s TV1 Colmar Brunton poll.
