No Green candidate for Invercargill

The Green Party will not field a candidate to contest the Invercargill seat in October, a situation which will potentially boost the election chances of Labour MP Liz Craig.

The Greens 2020 candidate Rochelle Francis withdrew from consideration this year for personal reasons and the party has confirmed that it will not be putting forward anyone in her place.

A spokesperson said candidates were chosen by the party’s local teams and although it had a strong list of candidates covering electorates from north to south “it’s not always possible to fill every electorate’’.

While some green candidates were competing for their local electorate votes, most were campaigning to grow the Greens’ party vote.

In 2020, Francis openly endorsed Labour’s Liz Craig for the candidate vote.

However Francis still picked up 1137 votes herself, which proved to be telling given that Craig ultimately lost to National’s Penny Simmonds by just 224 votes.

Craig did still make it to Parliament as a list MP, but her present party list ranking of 44 would not be enough to return her unless she won the electorate, or Labour’s support rose considerably from current polling levels.

Francis said that although she could speak only as an individual, she would again encourage people to consider supporting Craig, noting her work to restore the health of the New River Estuary.

“I feel that we’re very closely aligned in values and our desires for the community and think she’d be a fantastic MP for Invercargill.’’

The Green Party would not disclose whether any other potential Invercargill candidates had been considered – it had a robust selection process but “does not disclose details of these internal processes’’, its spokesperson said.

Asked how the party would be represented during the campaign she said when there wasn’t a candidate local teams ensured the party was represented at community events.

The lack of a Green candidate flips the situation from 2020 in which it was Simmonds who potentially benefitted when ACT didn’t field a candidate for Invercargill, after Basil Walker fell out with the party and ultimately stood as an independent instead.

This time Simmonds will be up against ACT’s Scott Donaldson.

The Green’s spokesperson said the worst possible outcome from the election would be a National-ACT coalition.

”It would be an alliance between parties addicted to fossil fuels and helping the wealthiest and the most powerful. Families will be left struggling to make ends meet, schools and hospitals will be run down, nature will be harmed and our communities will be more at risk from climate change.’’

In the Southland electorate the Green candidate is Dave Kennedy, who also contested the seat in 2020. The ACT candidate is Todd Stephenson, who is ranked at number 4 on its party list.