2006 Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand co-leadership election

2006 Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand co-leadership election

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Candidate Russel Norman Nándor Tánczos Popular vote Elected Eliminated   Candidate David Clendon Mike Ward Popular vote Eliminated Eliminated

Co-leader before election Vacant Co-leader after election Russel Norman

The 2006 Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand co-leadership election was held to elect a Green Party co-leader following the death of Rod Donald.

The election was won by the party's 2005 election campaign manager Russel Norman.

Background

Male co-leader Rod Donald died on 6 November 2005, the day before his scheduled swearing-in for his fourth term in Parliament, of myocarditis. ^[1] Donald was replaced as a list MP by Nándor Tánczos (who had been ranked too low to return to parliament prior to Donald's death). Female co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons stated the party would leave the co-leadership of the party vacant until next party annual general meeting (AGM) the following June. ^[2] The AGM was held on 3 June 2006 in Lower Hutt with the ballot being conducted via preferential voting.

Candidates

Four candidates were nominated for the leadership: ^[3]

• David Clendon, a lecturer in environmental management and Green candidate for Waitakere in 1999 and 2005 who had been the national co-convener of the party from 2001 to 2003.
• Russel Norman, the Green Party's development coordinator and 2005 election campaign manager who was the Green candidate for Rimutaka in 2002 and a list candidate in 2005.
• Nándor Tánczos, the co-founder of Hempstore Aotearoa and List MP since 1999.
• Mike Ward, a former Nelson City Councillor, co-leader of the Values Party from 1984 to 1989 and List MP from 2002 to 2005.

Declined

• Keith Locke declined to stand for the leadership stating the party needed a younger leader. ^[4]

Campaign

There was much media speculation that the leadership contest would be a "two-horse race" between Tánczos and Norman. Clendon, however, took exception to speculation that Tánczos and Norman were the only two serious contenders. ^[4] During the campaign Ward confirmed he would run for election to be Mayor of Nelson in 2007 regardless of whether he was co-leader or not. ^[5]

Result

The vote of 110 party delegates was won by Norman on the first ballot by a decisive two-to-one majority over Tánczos, with Clendon third and Ward last. ^[6]

Aftermath

Norman was not an MP and co-led the party from outside parliament for two years. Tánczos resigned from parliament in June 2008 and Ward was next on the Green party list to re-enter parliament. He initially declined to stand aside so that Norman could take Tánczos's list seat. Ward changed his mind, because of the advantages in having the party co-leader in Parliament during an election year. ^[7] Norman became an MP on 27 June. ^[8] He remained in parliament as co-leader until 2015 when he resigned. ^[9]

References

1. "Rod Donald died after rare food bug". The New Zealand Herald . 12 February 2007.
2. Espiner, Colin (12 November 2005). "Tanczos regains MP badge Fitzsimons happy". The Press . p. A3.
3. Houlahan, Mike (31 May 2006). "Contest for Greens co-leader wide open". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 13 February 2024.
4. Thomson, Ainsley (24 April 2006). "Greens' co-leader contest gets testy". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 13 February 2024.
5. Mitchell, Naomi (31 May 2006). "Ward confirms run for mayoralty". The Nelson Mail . p. 2.
6. Small, Vernon (5 June 2006). "Greens make smart choice for a sustainable future". The Dominion Post . p. B7.
7. Trevett, Claire (4 June 2008). "Greens co-leader set to be MP – at last". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 29 January 2010.
8. New Zealand Parliament (1 July 2008). "List Member Vacancy". parliament.nz. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
9. "Green Party co-leader Russel Norman resigns". Stuff.co.nz. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 30 January 2015.