National MP keeps his seat
The election battle for Wairarapa was a lot closer than 2014, but the result stayed the same with Alastair Scott holding onto his seat.
The National MP said he was unsurprised Labour candidate Kieran McAnulty had reduced his margin, given McAnulty’s day job for Masterton District Council allowed him day-to-day contact with the people in the electorate.
Water quality and mental health were the pressing electorate issues pointed out to Scott on the campaign trail. He was comfortable with the state of Wairarapa’s economy and employment levels.
‘‘If anything we need more people to move into the area to take up the slack with employment. The Horizons [regional council’s] One Plan is on the agenda as is mental health and rural health.
‘‘A win is a win but things are in an interesting position. We’ll know more after our caucus meeting. I’m pretty pleased and pretty tired.’’
Despite McAnulty falling short by 2746 votes, the Labour candidate was happy with his team’s effort.
‘‘I had a personal objective to reduce Alastair’s majority and managed to do that by over 4000, which I’m very pleased with.’’
McAnulty was the only major candidate to increase their vote share, with both NZ First’s Ron Mark and Scott dropping significantly from their 2014 totals.
Mark was down 1551 votes and Scott dropped by 1235, with McAnulty increasing his by 2790.
With Labour winning 45 seats on election night, McAnulty will most likely make it into Parliament from his position of 38th on the party list, barring any major surprises.
Mark will be in Parliament as well thanks to him being No 2 on the NZ First list.