Te Pou worried Labour may lose Auckland mayoralty

Shane Te Pou writes:

It doesn’t take an advanced degree in political science to understand this much about elections: under first-past-the-post, if two candidates aligned to the Labour Party run against each other for the Auckland mayoralty, neither is likely to win. Instead, by failing to rally behind a single contender, the Labour Party will all but certainly gift New Zealand’s biggest political prize in local government to its adversaries. What a spectacular own goal that would be.

Luckily Labour tends to ignore Shane!

On the dangers of splitting the vote, Collins understands the stakes. He wants to live in Mayor Leo Molloy’s Auckland no more than I do. But he’s bemused by the process, and I found myself persuaded by his calls for a transparent selection that gives grassroots party members a say.

Before I’d finished asking whether he’d step aside if he came up short under such a process, he jumped in with a definitive “yes”.

“If it was an agreed process that was fair, robust and transparent, and the one I’ve requested includes the membership of the party so that people can have a say. Too many of our people are left out, and this is a way to draw them in.”

As it stands today, Collins seems unlikely to get his wish. The NZ Council, Labour’s governing body, is taking charge, seeking input from locals via an Auckland local body committee, but ultimately plans to make the calls themselves. That means party honchos from Wellington and Christchurch get a say, but longstanding members and activists are shut out.

So Collins won’t stand against Hills if Labour runs a fair transparent process for determining whom get’s Labour’s nod. But if Hills is anointed by the Labour hierarchy without local members having a say, then Collins will run regardless. Seems fair.