The Prime Minister has given a date for New Zealand’s 2026 general election – November 7.
Christopher Luxon said making the announcement early in the year gave New Zealanders certainty.
In Mid Canterbury, Rangitata MP James Meager has indicated he will stand again, while Labour is searching for its next candidate. Nominations close in February.
The Green Party is also looking for a candidate.
At the last general election in 2023, Mid Cantabrians had a choice of eight Rangitata candidates at the polling booths.
They were then incumbent Jo Luxton (Labour), James Meager (National), Robert Ballantyne (New Zealand First), Michael Clarkson (Rock the Vote NZ), Barbara Gilchrist (Greens), Wayne Shearer (New Zealand Loyal), Karl Thomas (New Conservatives) and Dolf Van Amersfoort (New Nation Party).
At that election, James Meager won the majority vote getting 22,792 votes. Luxton got 11,946 votes, Ballantyne 2159, Gilchrist 1784, Shearer 755, Thomas 310, Clarkson 170 and Van Amersfoort 92.
Since then, Labour’s Jo Luxton, who remains in Parliament as a Labour List MP, moved outside the region and will be Labour’s candidate for East Cape, at the next election.
The Ashburton Courier reached out to those top four polling parties regarding their candidate selections for this year.
National MP James Meager said his party’s selection process for Rangitata had not yet opened. However, as expected, he was throwing his hat in the ring.
‘‘I intend on standing for selection and if selected, will be proud to be National’s candidate in Rangitata once again.”
A spokesperson for Labour said ‘‘Labour’s call for nominations in Rangitata is currently open and closes in February. We’ll then conduct a democratic internal process to select our candidate. We’ll make further comment once we’ve chosen our candidate.’’
A Green Party spokesperson said the party was looking forward to running a strong campaign nationwide.
‘‘Our candidate selection in the Green Party happens at the grassroots.
‘‘At the moment our local branch is looking for our next great candidate in Rangitata.’’
New Zealand First confirmed this week that it is their intention to field a candidate in every electorate.
Have your say
National took a landslide victory in the Rangitata electorate at last general election, but what do you think will happen this year? Send your views in 200 words or less to [email protected]
