Kiwiblog

As predicted in the newspapers yesterday, Jeanette Fitzsimons has announced she is stepping down as Green co-leader in June.

The Greens are going to have to think hard about their choice and strategy. They only have to drop 2% to be out of Parliament, and they failed to significantly attract votes in 2008 from what I call “ethical lefties” who were appalled by what Labour had done, but didn’t want to vote centre-right. In the end many more ex-Labour voters went to National instead of the Greens.

Elections for the new co-leader will happen on 30 May and 1 June.

Sounds like a good futures market for ipredict!

Sue Bradford and Metira Turei have both confirmed they will stand for the position.

The Sunday Star-Times says:

GREEN PARTY co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons is about to announce her resignation from the post. She will stand down to allow a new co-leader time to make her mark before the 2011 election.

The veteran Green, co-leader since 1995, is expected to serve out the parliamentary term as a list MP.

No real surprise, but earlier than expected. Seems weird to announce your retirement just weeks after the election. I guess if she had become a Minister, it would have been delayed.

Fitzsimons’ departure will leave a difficult problem for the party. She is a widely liked and admired politician, with appeal across the political spectrum.

Yep. You very very rarely hear a bad word about her.

The SST looks at her possible sucessors:

Neither Bradford nor Turei has similar appeal. Bradford, once a fiery Marxist radical, has softened her image, but her sponsorship of the anti-smacking bill drew much flak.

Turei has the progressive appeal of being a Maori woman, but she may be seen as too radical to have wide appeal.

It is not known if Catherine Delahunty, elected to parliament at last year’s general election, will be a candidate for the co-leadership. Her lack of parliamentary experience could count against her.

Oh please please please let the Greens select Catherine Delahunty as co-leader. If she stands, I urge all Kiwiblog readers to join the Green Party and vote for her

Sue Bradford is a very competent and hard working MP. She impresses on select committees. But her anti-smacking law has (rightfully) tainted her public image, and she is not from the environmental wing of the party. Bradford would be a risk – a Bradford/Norman leadership coudl look like the Greens had turned into the Alliance.

I think Metira Turei is their best bet. She is very smart, and while she is a radical (former anarchist), she has been pretty restrained as an MP.

One of the little projects I have had a bit to do with is helping arrange a partnership between TVNZ7 and InternetNZ for the 2008 Internet Election Debate.

InternetNZ ran an online debate on ICT issues in 2005 between some of the party spokespersons (including Labour and National). It was webcast, and allowed remote participation through an IRC channel, e-mailed questions etc. It worked well, with both the politicians and the audience enjoying the somewhat unconventional format which allowed more time for actual debate and detail.

As ICT issues such as broadband, fibre rollout, wireless, digital copyright have become far more prominent in the last year ro two, we thought there would be enough interest in the debate to look at having it televised also. And TVNZ7 were the natural partner with their focus on news and current affairs. So we were delighted when they showed not just interest but enthusiasm.

We’ve also got a great range of journalists for the debate. Sean Plunkett has agreed to be the overall moderator. Fran O’Sullivan and Russell Brown will fire questions from the media bench and we will also have an online moderator who will filter questions through from the online and viewing audience.

The debate is on Tuesday 23 September starting at 9.10 pm. The first hour is live on TVNZ7. The second hour will be webcast (as will be the first hour) live and also available through TVNZ On Demand.

The four MPs are Labour’s Minister of Communications Hon David Cunliffe, National ICT Spokesperson Hon Maurice Williamson, ACT Leader Rodney Hide and Greens ICT Spokesperson Metiria Turei.

The whole idea of the debate is it will be a two way communication, not just one way. So if you are interested in faster broadband, digital copyright, Internet Safety etc etc tune in on the night. You can also ask questions in advance on Geekzone.

Jeanette Fitzsimons expects her upcoming sixth term in Parliament to be her last. She will probably stand down as co-leader in 2010.

Metira Turei would have to be the favourite to suceed her. A couple of years ago I would have put Sue Bradford as favourite, but her anti-smacking law has branded her in a way which would be risky for the Greens.