Mt Albert By-Election Results
As expected by everyone, Jacinda Ardern won the by-election after unsuccessful electorate candidacies in Waikato in 2008 and Auckland Central in 2001 and 2014. She goes from being a List MP to an Electorate MP and Raymond Huo will enter Parliament for a few months as a Labour List MP. His chances of remaining past the general election are not great due to the gender quota rule.
The preliminary results are:
- Jacinda Ardern 10,000 votes 77.1%
- Julie-Anne Genter 1,489 votes 11.5%
- Geoff Simons 600 votes 4.6%
Not a great result for The Opportunities Party when you can’t get 5% in a by-election where there is no National or NZ First candidate.
The number of votes cast was 12,971. This is:
- 34.7% of the votes cast in the 2014 election
- 27.9% of the enrolled voters (in 2014)
- 21.4% of the electoral population
No doubt National not standing a candidate was part of this. But of interest in the 2009 by-election David Shearer got 13,260 votes.
Regardless a good result for Jacinda Ardern who now has a safe seat for life, and is no longer dependent on list ranking. Warren Freer was MP for Mt Albert for 34 years and Helen Clark for 27 years. It is quite possible Ardern could beat both those records.