It was probably a foregone conclusion that Alistair Scott was going to win the National party selection process as the candidate for the upcoming election. Scott signalled his intention to challenge the incumbent at least a year ago. He managed to convince the voting delegates that he was the best option despite being up against three excellent fellow aspirees and won the nomination on the first ballot.
I’m not sure why John Hayes felt he had to step down. The Wairarapa seat, totally misnamed when you consider it encompasses all of Tararua and a sizeable chunk of Hawkes Bay, is New Zealand’s second largest electorate geographically and despite spurious claims to the contrary, Hayes has served his constituents well. Certainly by increasing his majority over his three-term tenure would seem to validate that.
He is also the Parliamentary Private Secretary for Foreign Affairs reporting to Murray McCully and it has been suggested that with him opting to retire, perhaps Shane Jones is going to have to assume at least some of his responsibilities.
The National party candidate selection process is about as democratic as you could get. It contrasts utterly with Labour’s procedure where the locals have to put up with serious input from head office and a union vote. National’s candidate is chosen entirely by voting delegates who are all local financial members.
National party members wishing to participate in the voting process must attend at least one meeting where all the candidates speak as well as the final meeting where the voting takes place. On this occasion there were four pre-meeting opportunities; at Masterton, Dannevirke, Waipukarau and Greytown. Those desirous of being part of the voting process had to sign in at the commencement of at least one of those meetings before being eligible to vote at decision-making meeting in the Masterton Town Hall last Friday afternoon.
184 delegates gained eligibility to vote and their numbers were swelled by at least the same amount of non-voting members who came along to witness the process.
Once seated, the delegates were “locked in” and officials from head office manned the doors to certify no one left the building. This was to ensure no one voted without having heard all the aspirants speak. This ruling was thwarted when it was discovered some delegates had parked their cars illegally and notices placed under the windscreen wipers had inferred they were about to be towed away. About ten delegates were subsequently given permission to leave the hall which held up the proceedings somewhat.
The voting process requires that if no one gains 51% of the votes in the first ballot then the lowest polling candidate drops off and the delegates have another vote with the remainder.
This process is repeated until one of the candidates reaches the required 51%.
Mercifully, given the time the whole process was taking and the hardness of the Town Hall seats, articulate Alistair Scott gained the required number of votes on the first ballot. His winning margin is not known; the scrutineers were sworn to secrecy and it was unanimously resolved that voting papers be destroyed.
The candidates drew lots as to speaking order and were given ten minutes each to put their case and were then required to answer two questions. One submitted by the Prime Minister and the other from the party’s national president, Peter Goodfellow.
During these addresses the other three aspirants were ensconced in a soundproof room so they couldn’t hear the speeches or the questions. The prime ministers question related to the problems facing middle-class New Zealander’s and the party president asked how the candidates intended to encourage local electors to give National their party vote.
The candidates all acquitted themselves well and at another time any one of them could have been chosen to represent the Wairarapa electorate. It may be unfair to rank them, but I thought Jo Hayes probably came in second. This petite Maori lady spoke with real passion, but is already a list member in parliament and delegates probably considered that leaving her there meant they get two representatives for the price of one.
Richard Townley had stood for selection for Wairarapa 9 years ago and at the time was told by local members to go away and get some worldly experience and come back again. He did this and would have been justifiably disappointed that he missed out a second time. He did however make the curious decision not to use the microphone when he spoke in the Town Hall and given the average age of the audience and the percentage of them who would have been wearing hearing aids this could have counted against him.
Tall, dark and handsome James Perry also spoke well and looked the part. This youthful-looking John F. Kennedy type, a local young farmer currently employed by a German company selling farm machinery in Europe, appeared to be a little overwhelmed by the political process.
He and Townley are both 34 years of age; no doubt their time will come.
If the delegates had been more prudent they may well have chosen Jo Hayes to replace John Hayes. The savings in stationery and signwriting costs could have been considerable.
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