A
by-election was held in the
New Zealand electorate
An electorate or electoral district ( mi, rohe pōti) is a geographical constituency used for electing a member () to the New Zealand Parliament. The size of electorates is determined such that all electorates have approximately the same populati ...
of
Botany on 5 March 2011. The seat was vacated by former National Ethnic Affairs Minister
Pansy Wong, who announced her resignation from the New Zealand
Parliament on 14 December 2010 following allegations her husband Sammy had misused taxpayer money in relation to overseas travel.
The seat was won by
Jami-Lee Ross, retaining the seat for the
New Zealand National Party
The New Zealand National Party ( mi, Rōpū Nāhinara o Aotearoa), shortened to National () or the Nats, is a centre-right political party in New Zealand. It is one of two major parties that dominate contemporary New Zealand politics, alongside ...
but with a 27% reduction in majority.
Demographics and election history
The
Botany electorate was created shortly before the
2008 election
This electoral calendar 2008 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2008 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, even though they are not elections. By-elections are no ...
and is considered a safe National seat. A third of the population is born overseas and it has a large Chinese population.
Wong won the seat with 17382 (56.22%) votes in the 2008 general election. Labour candidate Koro Tawa was runner-up with 6510 (21.06%) and ACT's
Kenneth Wang on 4717 (15.26%). Party votes were National 19355 (61.25%), Labour 7958 (25.18%) and Act 1528 (4.84%).
Candidates
Nominations opened on 2 February and closed at noon on 8 February.
National Party
The
National Party selected
Jami-Lee Ross, a member of the
Auckland Council
Auckland Council ( mi, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau) is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is ...
representing Howick, as their candidate.
He was selected from a shortlist of five candidates,
the other four being former
Auckland City
Auckland City was a territorial authority with city status covering the central isthmus of the urban area of Auckland, New Zealand. It was governed by the Auckland City Council from 1989 to 2010, and as a territory within the wider Auckland R ...
councillor Aaron Bhatnagar,
media presenter
Maggie Barry,
Elim Christian College
Elim Christian College is a state-integrated coeducational secondary school located in Silverdale, Auckland, New Zealand.
Established in 1988, the school currently caters for approximately 1000 students from new entrants to Year 13, includin ...
teacher Darron Gedge,
and health research scientist Edward Saafi.
A total of twelve people had initially put their names forward for the nomination.
The list was not released, but was reported to include
Denise Krum
Denise Adrienne Lee (previously Denise Krum; born 4 December 1970) is a New Zealand politician who was the National Party's Member of Parliament for the Maungakiekie electorate from 2017 to 2020. She was previously an Auckland Council local ...
(a National Party official and former president of
United Future),
Ram Rai (a National Party official),
Ken Yee (a former
Manukau City
Manukau City was a territorial authority district in Auckland, New Zealand, that was governed by the Manukau City Council. The area is sometimes referred to as "South Auckland", although this term never possessed official recognition and does ...
councillor and unsuccessful candidate for
Manukau East
Manukau East was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate that returned one member of parliament to the House of Representatives. It was first formed for the . Between the and the 2020 electorate adjustment it was held by Jenny Salesa, a member ...
),
Youngshin Watkins,
and
Daniel Newman.
Other names that had been speculated included current list MP
Melissa Lee
Melissa Ji-Yun Lee ( ko, 이지연; born 1966) is a New Zealand politician. She was elected to the House of Representatives as a list MP for the National Party in the 2008 election. , she is the National Party's spokesperson for broadcasting, ...
(who had unsuccessfully contested the
Mount Albert by-election earlier in the parliamentary term), party official Kit Parkinson,
and
Howick Local Board chairman Michael Williams.
ACT
ACT selected
MIT lecturer and Counties Manukau DHB member Lyn Murphy.
Labour Party
The
Labour Party selected
Michael Wood, Puketapapa Local Board member, as their candidate.
The other two people that contested the nomination were Roy Bootle and David Collings.
Collings withdrew before the selection process was completed.
Koro Tawa, who contested the seat in the previous general election had already been selected to contest it in the next one,
was originally reported to be seeking the nomination for the by-election as well,
but did not in the end.
Others
The Green Party selected Richard Leckinger, a former ministerial advisor and researcher at Parliament. However, he was stuck in traffic and could not submit the nomination form in time.
The Pirate Party selected Hussain Al-Saady, a recent university graduate.
The recently founded
New Citizen Party
The New Citizen Party was a political party in New Zealand that aimed to represent Chinese New Zealanders and had a focus on economic and law-and-order issues.
Auckland businessman Paul Young, former New Zealand Labour Party list-candidate Steph ...
selected businessman
Paul Young.
Independents included veteran campaigner
Penny Bright,
translator and former candidate for Puketapapa Local Board Robert Goh, and former candidate for mayor Wayne Young.
Campaign
Wood started the campaign by admitting to the local paper in Puketapapa he had no chance of winning. A week later, he told the local paper in Botany he hadn't given up yet.
NZPA reported that the new New Citizen Party had put up more billboards than him. Wood claimed Ross was "too scared" to have a TV debate with him on the "big issues",
while making a pledge "to drive penis lollies out of the community".
Meanwhile, National warned against being complacent and taking the election for granted.
Paul Young wanted 10%
GST, "traditional values in the education system" and "respect for elders".
Bright again campaigned on her theme of open, transparent and democratically accountable governments. She condemned the planned partial privatisation of state assets, saying "partial privatisation is like partial pregnancy – there is no such thing".
Wayne Young, made homeless by the
leaky homes crisis
The leaky homes crisis is an ongoing construction and legal crisis in New Zealand concerning timber-framed homes built from 1988 to 2004 that were not fully weather-tight. The problems often include the decay of timber framing which, in extreme ...
, wanted building standards to be strengthened.
The Pirate Party left its campaign to the last minute, handing out fliers at 6pm on the day before the election.
Results
Official results as declared on Wednesday 16 March 2011 after special votes were counted.
Ross resigned his seat on the Auckland Council on the Monday after the election.
Alleged illegal campaigning
New Zealand law prohibits campaigning on election day. It is alleged that the ''United Chinese Press'' newspaper published a front-page article on election day endorsing Paul Young. It is further alleged the paper ran an ad in the same edition for the New Citizen Party.
The editor of the United Chinese Press insists the newspaper in question was printed on the day before, and therefore legal.
References
External links
*Botany by-election – Elections New Zealand
Times Newspaper special coverageElectorate Profile ''Parliamentary Library''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Botany By-Election, 2011
2011 elections in New Zealand
Botany 2011
March 2011 events in New Zealand
Politics of the Auckland Region