The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand female co-leadership election, 2018 is an election that took place between 26 March and 7 April 2018 to determine the future leadership of the

Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand ( mi, Rōpū Kākāriki o Aotearoa, Niu Tireni), commonly known as the Greens, is a green and left-wing political party in New Zealand. Like many green parties around the world, it has four organisational ...

Background

On 9 August 2017,

Metiria Turei Metiria Leanne Agnes Stanton Turei (born 1970) is a New Zealand academic and a former New Zealand politician. She was a Member of Parliament from 2002 to 2017 and the female co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand from 2009 to 2017 ...

announced she had stood down as co-leader of the Green Party following media scrutiny of her public admission to committing benefit fraud in the early 1990s, stating that the "scrutiny on erfamily has become unbearable." This triggered an election to fill the now vacant female co-leadership, which the party had previously stated would be conducted at the 2018 party annual general meeting. It had been possible that a Special General Meeting or postal ballot may have been used to elect a new co-leader earlier. On 26 January 2018, James Shaw announced the election timeline to determine the next female co-leader, with the ballots to be counted and a winner to be announced on 8 April 2018. Following the election,

Marama Davidson Marama Mere-Ana Davidson (née Paratene; born 1973) is a New Zealand politician who entered the New Zealand Parliament in 2015 as a representative of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, of which she is the female co-leader. In October 2 ...

was elected the new female co-leader of the Green Party.

Key dates

* Friday 2 February – Nominations open * Friday 9 February – Nominations close * Monday 12 February – Full list of nominations announced * Saturday 3 March – Co-leader candidate session held at Green Party policy conference in Napier * Sunday 25 March – Zoom conference to be held between candidates and delegates. * Monday 26 March – End of official campaigning, balloting opens * Saturday 7 April – Balloting closes * Sunday 8 April – Ballots counted and winner announced

Candidates

Declared candidates

The following individuals announced their candidacy:

Declined

The following individuals were speculated as being possible leadership candidates, but ruled out a bid: ;Golriz Ghahraman Ghahraman, elected as a

List MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than from by a geographical constituency. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes that the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs ...

in 2017 (following special votes being cast) said to media she was "not at all" interested in the position of co-leader. ;Jan Logie A List MP since 2011 and

Under-Secretary Undersecretary (or under secretary) is a title for a person who works for and has a lower rank than a secretary (person in charge). It is used in the executive branch of government, with different meanings in different political systems, and is al ...

for

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

since 2017,

Jan Logie Heather Janet Logie (born 26 October 1969) is a New Zealand politician and a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. She is a member of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand. Early life and career Logie was born in Invercargill i ...

did not respond to media requests for comment regarding the co-leadership. The press speculated that after Davidson announced her candidacy Logie ruled out running herself. ;Deborah Morris-Travers Former Green Party Chief of Staff

Deborah Morris-Travers Deborah Morris-Travers (born 9 August 1970) is a former New Zealand politician. She was a list MP for New Zealand First from 1996 to 1998. Member of Parliament Morris was an MP from 1996 to 1999, representing the New Zealand First party. ...

, who was replaced following Turei's admission to benefit fraud due to her involvement, ruled out a bid for the co-leadership herself. ;Denise Roche Former Green List MP (2011–17) and Auckland City Councillor (2007–10) Denise Roche ruled herself out of standing. ;Eugenie Sage

Sage Sage or SAGE may refer to: Plants * ''Salvia officinalis'', common sage, a small evergreen subshrub used as a culinary herb ** Lamiaceae, a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint or deadnettle or sage family ** ''Salvia'', a large ...

, a

since 2011 and since 2017 Minister of Conservation and Minister for Land Information as well as a member of the Green Party's negotiation team with Labour, said she had not yet made any decision; "I'm still getting my feet under the table as a minister." There had been widespread speculation that Sage would put her hand up as a "compromise candidate". Ultimately, she ruled out standing citing a desire to focus on her ministerial duties instead. ;Chlöe Swarbrick Elected as a List MP in 2017,

Chlöe Swarbrick Chlöe Charlotte Swarbrick (born 26 June 1994) is a New Zealand politician. Following a high-profile but unsuccessful run for the 2016 Auckland mayoral election, she became a parliamentary candidate for the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, ...

declined to stand stating it was "too early" in her career to be co-leader.

Debates

On 1 March a live-streamed debate between Davidson and Genter was held in the Legislative Council Chambers, Wellington hosted by Henry Cooke. Davidson and Genter again met in a debate hosted by Lisa Owen on '' Newshub Nation'' on 10 March, and in another hosted by Mihingarangi Forbes on ''The Hui'' on 11 March.

Result

The voting was conducted by delegates from electorates across the country. The following table gives the ballot results:

References

{{NZ Green Party 2018 elections in New Zealand Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand leadership elections Indirect elections March 2018 events in New Zealand April 2018 events in New Zealand Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand female co-leadership election