President Sir Wira Gardiner?
The Herald reports that (Sir) Wira Gardiner will stand for election to the National Party Board at the party’s annual conference, and Wira is not ruling out he may stand for the presidency.
The article also confirms the candidacy of current Director Peter Goodfellow, and the likely interest of Director Scott Simpson. All three are very good people, and the choice should be a positive one – not a major battle between competing ideologies or factions.
The presidency is no longer decided by the party’s annual conference but by the board of directors itself. The nine Directors select one of their own to be President. Since this change in 2003, there has been no vacancy with incumbent Judy Kirk re-elected without dissent. 2009 will be the first time there is competition for the role. However as there are only nine votes in play, it is quite possible that people will be able to work out who has the numbers in advance of the actual vote.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:08 am
The National party has an ideology?
I thought that was one of the many dead rats it swallowed in order to warm the seats on the 9th Floor.
March 25th, 2009 at 9:08 am
I have a deal of respect for Wira as a fellow Vietnam veteran who has made a substantial contribution to NZ. He certainly is ‘tribal’ (no pun intended) National with an instinct for what is possible and what is not.
I am however slightly uncomfortable with the prospect of having a Party President with his spouse a serving MP.
There will always be a certain creative tension between the parliamentary and the organisational wing of the Party. That is right and proper and helps balanced decision making. One might wonder if with WG as President the balance might swing towards the parliamentary wing. Sometimes perception becomes reality.
Having said that I know Wira understands governance and his breadth of experience should ensure he would serve the Party well.
March 25th, 2009 at 9:16 am
I assume it’s some sort of majoritarian voting system?
March 25th, 2009 at 9:58 am
I’m all for Sir Wira for president, despite knowing almost nothing about him.
Given the fury that the National-Maori Party coalition has caused among the Standardistas, I figure National having a Maori president might just push them over the edge.
March 25th, 2009 at 10:51 am
As long as Scott Simpson doesn’t get it. What a mess it would be if he got the nod. Roger Bridge from Christchurch would be far more suited and is a good Tory.
March 26th, 2009 at 11:06 am
Sir Wira definitely has a lot of Mana and standing in the community. I am sure he will give Andrew Little a run for his money, structurally the National Party is in better shape than the Labour Party at the moment (i.e. they are on electoral cycle upswing) whereas Labour is only starting to rebuild. The Labour Party is quite hampered by the likely hood that their President will enter Parliament and bid for the leadership of their caucus (therefore no long term infrastructure strategy). And this is not adding the potential conflict of interest issues (of a political sense) surrounding their President’s day job…
I must say that Sir Wira seems to be in for the longterm as opposed to political opportunism…