Grassroots democracy

Was in Mount Maunganui last night for National’s selection of a candidate to replace Tony Ryall in the Bay of Plenty. Tony’s majority in 2011 was a staggering 17,760 votes.

There were 101 voting delegates there. Every single one of them selected by a grassroots branch. Not a single vote held by anyone from head office, let alone a van load of unionists who get bused in to vote. The 101 party members were almost all very long-standing party activists who have spent years or decades door knocking, putting up hoardings, raising funds etc. It’s a great system where they get to decide who will be their local candidate, and is one of the reasons why National has the largest party membership in New Zealand.

The selection was won by Todd Muller (whom I previously blogged on here). Congratulations to Todd who will be an excellent MP and representative for the Bay of Plenty.

Amusingly this means the next National caucus will have three Todds – McClay, Muller, and Barclay. I’m suggesting they be called Senior Todd, Intermediate Todd and Baby Todd 🙂

Congrats also to Alfred Ngaro, selected for Te Atatu yesterday also. Boundary changes have made that seat more interesting that in the past.

This concludes the selections for the seats National currently holds. Still Port Hills and a couple of others to go with the Labour held seats. Port Hills could also be interesting.