Pansy gone

At a 10.30 am press conference Pansy Wong announced she is resigning effective 17 January 2011. She will not take any pay from 20 December.

This means a by-election, probably in late February 2011.

Pansy, subject to leave, will make her valedictory speech to the House this afternoon.

Pansy won the seat with a 10,872 majority. Even with the traditional swing against the Government, I can’t see it swapping hands. In fact the challenge for Labour may be to come second – in 2008 their candidate got only 21% of the vote and ACT’s Kenneth Wang got 15%.

UPDATE: John Key has announced by-election dates of Sat 5 March for the ballot. Nominations will close Tue 8 Feb.