Kieran McAnulty. PHOTO/FILE
KAREN COLTMAN
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First term Wairarapa Labour list MP, Kieran McAnulty is number 28 on the Labour Party list.
Labour leader and number one on the list, Jacinda Ardern, made public her party’s 2020 general election list on Monday.
Labour candidates for the Maori seats are all on the list this time but to show commitment to win back the Maori seats [from the Maori Party] in 2017, all decided not to go on it for that election.
Meka Whaitiri is number 30 on the 2020 list.
She holds the Ikaroa-Rawhiti seat and has done for just under two parliamentary terms.
If McAnulty doesn’t win the Wairarapa seat, he still has a good chance of remaining an MP.
In the midst of the covid-19 crisis, May opinion polls had Labour up in the high 40 per cent mark, should an election have been held then.
Ardern was well ahead of other party leaders as preferred prime minister.
In 2017, at number 38 on the Labour list, McAnulty was the final list candidate to make it into Parliament. Labour won just under 37 per cent of the vote in that election.
If the polls remain around that mark, McAnulty would get into parliament again as a list MP.
“I am humbled by, and grateful for the encouraging position on the list but nonetheless my goal remains the same as it always has, to be the representative for my home region in Parliament,” McAnulty said.
“My position on the list shows I have the backing of the party and now we have a real chance to ensure Wairarapa has a local MP at the heart of the next government.”
Political parties have until Thursday, August 20, to submit their party lists to the electoral commission.
The general election is on September 19 which is 13 weeks and four days off.
