New Zealand Labour Party leadership election, 2014
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The 2014 New Zealand Labour Party leadership election was held to choose the Leader of the Labour Party. Andrew Little won the election and became leader of the party. The election followed the resignation of leader
David Cunliffe David Richard Cunliffe (born 30 April 1963) is a New Zealand management consultant and former politician who was Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from September 2013 to September 2014. He was Member of Parli ...
on 27 September 2014 after an historic
general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
defeat a week earlier. David Parker and Annette King were installed as interim leader and deputy leader, respectively. Nominations for the leadership closed on 14 October, and Labour Party members met the candidates in 14
husting A husting originally referred to a native Germanic governing assembly, the thing. By metonymy, the term may now refer to any event (such as debates or speeches) during an election campaign where one or more of the candidates are present. Deve ...
s meetings throughout the country. The results of the contest were announced on 18 November. Under Labour Party rules, party members have 40% of the votes, caucus members have another 40% of the votes, and affiliated unions have 20% of the votes. David Cunliffe was the first person to put forward their nomination, but he later withdrew from the contest on 13 October. Candidates, in the order of their nominations being put forward, were Grant Robertson, Andrew Little, David Parker and Nanaia Mahuta.


Background

The Labour Party has remained in opposition since the Fifth Labour Government was voted out in the 2008 general election. The Labour Party's leader, Helen Clark, resigned on election night and was replaced days later by long-serving MP and former
Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...
minister Phil Goff. Labour's vote decreased to 27% at the 2011 general election and Goff subsequently resigned. The leadership election later that year saw
David Shearer David James Shearer (born 28 July 1957) is a New Zealand United Nations worker and politician. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament for the Labour Party from 2009 to 2016, serving as Leader of the Opposition from 2011 to 2013. Shear ...
beat
David Cunliffe David Richard Cunliffe (born 30 April 1963) is a New Zealand management consultant and former politician who was Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from September 2013 to September 2014. He was Member of Parli ...
in a vote of the party's caucus. In 2012 the party rewrote its leadership rules, giving the party's parliamentary caucus 40% of the vote, the party membership 40% and affiliated unions 20%, and using
instant-runoff voting Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of ranked preferential voting method. It uses a majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referred to as ranked-choice voting (RCV) in the Un ...
if there are more than two candidates. In 2013 Shearer resigned as party leader and the Labour Party elected Cunliffe as its parliamentary leader over Grant Robertson and Shane Jones.


2014 general election

The 2014 general election took place on 20 September, and the
Fifth National Government Neville Chamberlain formed the Chamberlain war ministry in 1939 after declaring war on Germany. Chamberlain led the country for the first eight months of the Second World War, until the Norway Debate in Parliament led Chamberlain to resign a ...
was re-elected for a third term. Based on the interim results, the National Party had achieved an absolute majority of seats (61 out of 121), unprecedented under the
mixed-member proportional Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a mixed electoral system in which votes cast are considered in local elections and also to determine overall party vote tallies, which are used to allocate additional members to produce ...
(MMP) representation system in place since the . Labour's defeat was of historical proportions; it was, based on interim results of 24.69% for the party vote the worst result since , when Labour gained 23.70% of the vote in its second general election after the formation of the party in 1916. Calls for Cunliffe's resignation appeared the day after the election from caucus colleagues, and political commentators pointed out that Cunliffe provided a long list of reasons in his concession speech why Labour had failed to win the election, but that he had failed to point the finger at himself. According to political journalist Andrea Vance, the concession speech was written the day before the election, when the magnitude of the defeat was of course yet unknown. When pressed, Cunliffe refused to resign and rather wanted his caucus colleagues to pass a motion of no confidence, but a no confidence motion was unlikely, as likely contenders would not want to be rushed, and the caucus agreed that no action would be taken until the final election results are released on 4 October. That Cunliffe was not in control of the caucus, with a large majority of caucus members known as not supporting Cunliffe, became clear when Chris Hipkins was elected
whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...
in the 23 September caucus meeting. Whips are supposed to be "loyal lieutenants" to the leader, but Hipkins is a known opponent of Cunliffe, and one of Cunliffe's first actions after his 2013 leadership election was to demote Hipkins. Cunliffe tendered his resignation on 27 September, triggering the leadership election.


2014 leadership election and interim leadership

While the new leader of the Labour Party was being determined, David Parker and Annette King became leader and deputy leader of the Party. Nominations for the leadership closed on 14 October. Between 22 October and 11 November, 14 hustings meetings were held throughout the country for members of the Labour Party. Voting by the Labour membership was possible through the post and online, and the election result were scheduled for announcement on 18 November 2014. It is the second leadership election the Party conducted using new party rules agreed in 2012, which allow party members to vote. The Labour Party election rules state that the vote is split among the party's caucus, party members and party affiliates (unions) in a 40/40/20 split.


Candidates


Grant Robertson

Robertson announced on 27 September that he would contest the leadership election, stating that he "couldn't stand by and see the party poll 24% and not put my name forward". Robertson was formally nominated on 10 October by Kris Faafoi and Rino Tirikatene.


Andrew Little

Andrew Little announced his bid on 9 October 2014. He was nominated by
Poto Williams Munokoa Poto Williams (born 7 January 1962) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician and a member of Parliament. She was elected in a 2013 by-election and is currently Minister of Conservation and Minister for Disability Issues in the Sixth ...
and
Iain Lees-Galloway Iain Francis Lees-Galloway (born 18 September 1978), initially Iain Galloway, is a New Zealand former politician. He represented the Palmerston North electorate in Parliament for the Labour Party. He was the Minister for Workplace Relations, Im ...
.


David Parker

After ruling himself out of the contest in September, Parker became the interim leader of the Labour Party on 30 October. By 12 October, he had changed his mind and announced his leadership bid. Parker was nominated by Jenny Salesa and
Damien O'Connor Damien Peter O'Connor (born 16 January 1958) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician who currently serves as Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Biosecurity, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Minister for Land Information and Minister ...
.


Nanaia Mahuta

Mahuta announced her candidacy half an hour before nominations closed on 14 October 2014. She was nominated by Louisa Wall and William Sio.


Non-standing prospects

David Cunliffe initially announced on 27 September that he was resigning as leader of the party and that he was going to contest the subsequent election for a new leader. However, on 13 October, he announced he would not run for the leadership and put his personal support behind Little. Others speculated to have considered contesting the election included former leader
David Shearer David James Shearer (born 28 July 1957) is a New Zealand United Nations worker and politician. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament for the Labour Party from 2009 to 2016, serving as Leader of the Opposition from 2011 to 2013. Shear ...
. Shearer however ruled himself out. Stuart Nash was also speculated as a candidate but ruled himself out on 5 October. A poll by Television New Zealand's '' One News'' in late September 2014 suggested that Jacinda Ardern would gain support from the public.


Result

Andrew Little won the leadership contest and became leader of the Labour Party, receiving 50.52 per cent of the vote to Grant Robertson's 49.48 per cent in the final round of the voting reallocations. As a result of the leadership election, Grant Robertson said after two unsuccessful attempts he would not seek the Labour leadership again in the future. David Parker would not answer questions about his future in Parliament, but signalled that he was not interested in retaining the finance portfolio.


Notes


References


External links


"Meet Labour's leadership hopefuls"
Radio New Zealand National, 15 October 2014 {{New Zealand Labour Party Labour Party leadership
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New Zealand Labour Party leadership election