June 01, 2017
Green members boost new talent
Greens co-leader Metiria Turei says the party is set to have a strong line up of Maori MPs in the next parliament.
After party members ranked the preliminary list, MP Marama Davidson was promoted to number three, Jack McDonald slipped to 13 and Denise Roche to 15, one place ahead of Dave Clendon, with Pasifika candidate Teanau Tuiono at 19.
The big surprise was the way party members gave higher places to two young women, 22 year old former Auckland mayoral candidate Chloe Swarbrick and human rights lawyer Golriz Ghahraman.
Ms Turei, who holds the top spot, says that should not harm the prospects of Maori candidates if the party’s share of the vote matches current polling.
"So what we’ve seen the party do is push up the new talent, particularly the new Maori talent and particularly the new female talent and I think that's amazing. So if we get 12, 13, 15 per cent of the vote we'll have myself, Marama, Jack,Denise, Dave and Teanau all in parliament so that's not too bad," Ms Turei says.
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