Auckland: The Hamilton West by-election will be held on Saturday 10 December, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today.
The by-election follows the announcement of the resignation of independent MP Gaurav Sharma.
“The by-election will be held on Saturday 10 December, with Writ Day being Wednesday 2 November.
“The deadline for candidate nominations to be received will be noon Tuesday 8 November, and official results will be declared on Wednesday 21 December. The last day for the return of the Writ will be Tuesday 17 January 2023.”
[Note: There is a three working day period following the declaration of official results for applications for a judicial recount. The period from 25 December to 15 January is excluded from the definition of working days by legislation.]
The by-election has been prompted by Sharma, the now-independent Hamilton West MP who was kicked out of Labour in August, resigning his seat this week.
He claimed Labour was planning to use waka-jumping legislation to force him out of Parliament ahead of next year’s general election. If he left Parliament within six months of the election, politicians could choose not to hold a by-election.
Sharma was concerned this would leave his Hamilton West constituents without a MP for months. By resigning this week, he triggered the by-election which he will run in.
However, Ardern has said there was no plan to use the waka-jumping legislation and has no idea what led Sharma to believe that.
On Thursday, she reiterated that the by-election was a “complete waste of taxpayer money”.
“I am still disappointed on behalf of taxpayers that we are having this by-election in the first place,” she said.
Ardern on Wednesday began downplaying Labour’s chances to win the seat. She said her party has been an “underdog” there lately.
“In recent elections, we’ve held it once out of five. That is the history of this seat. I let that record speak for itself for the type of contest it is likely to be,” she said.
When it was pointed out by Newshub that the electorate usually goes to the largest party – wasn’t between 2008 and 2020 – Ardern said there have been boundary changes.
“I am saying that in recent times we have been the underdog in that seat. I do think it would be a very robust and tough by-election,” she said.
Labour, which won a majority of the vote at the 2020 election, has been trending down in recent polls and showing up as less popular than National.
Both parties are now readying for the campaign, but neither have chosen candidates yet.
Newshub revealed on Wednesday that Roshan Nauhria, a wealthy businessman, is willing to back Sharma’s by-election campaign.
“I will support him financially, 100 percent. Wholeheartedly… [it] doesn’t matter the money, whatever he needs.”
| Posted by Sameer Khan | 
