President Sir Wira Gardiner?

The Herald reports that (Sir) Wira Gardiner will stand for election to the National Party Board at the party’s annual conference, and Wira is not ruling out he may stand for the presidency.

The article also confirms the candidacy of current Director Peter Goodfellow, and the likely interest of Director Scott Simpson. All three are very good people, and the choice should be a positive one – not a major battle between competing ideologies or factions.

The presidency is no longer decided by the party’s annual conference but by the board of directors itself. The nine Directors select one of their own to be President. Since this change in 2003, there has been no vacancy with incumbent Judy Kirk re-elected without dissent. 2009 will be the first time there is competition for the role. However as there are only nine votes in play, it is quite possible that people will be able to work out who has the numbers in advance of the actual vote.