The frontrunners in two of the Hawke’s Bay seats are expressing confidence but are leaving nothing to chance by campaigning right up to the end.

The Tukituki contest will once again see National’s incumbent Lawrence Yule up against his old rival Labour’s Anna Lorck, who he beat in 2017.

In Napier, Labour’s incumbent and current cabinet minister Stuart Nash will face off against his third National opponent in three elections. Young Napier businesswoman Katie Nimon represents Nationals hopes of winning the seat they last held when Chris Tremain was in Parliament.

For Labour’s Lorck, the success of her party in the polls gives her what she believes is a pathway to victory.

The first term Hawke’s Bay District Health Board Member is also hoping her decision not to seek a place on her party’s list demonstrates a stronger commitment to the electorate.

Speaking to Hawke’s Bay App while out in Frimley door knocking, Lorck said she is feeling “very positive”.

“I believe the voters’ support and confidence in me as an MP and the work I am doing will pay off. I will be able to serve this electorate as a truly local MP, who lives in the electorate, is part of the community and advocates on the real local issues that matter to the people here first and foremost.”

However, National’s Yule is determined to have a second term in Parliament. The former Mayor of Hastings says he is “quietly confident” but isn’t taking “anything for granted”.

While he acknowledges the growing popularity for Labour and Jacinda Ardern is the “biggest change” since they last went head to head, he is holding onto hope his track record speaks for itself.

“I just think that I’m experienced as an MP, I’ve taken my training wheels off. Being in parliament is a different environment, you get to learn how it works, I now know that, and I believe I can offer real value.”

He believes the “line that somehow you need an MP to be in government is a complete falsehood”.

“Backbench MPs in government have no say, are basically muzzled and the Ministers control everything, whereas an opposition MP can call the government out, hold people to account, and set up policy.”

Apart from Lorck and Yule, seven other people are contesting the Tukituki seat, with some of these simply after the party vote. The Green Party’s Tukituki candidate Chris Perley, who also stood in 2014 and 2017, hopes to lift the party’s profile and boost the party vote.

He is “strongly confident” his party will get above the five per cent needed to get into Parliament.

“I believe the green party has shown that it’s got quite a bit of strength over the years. With a strong Labour, you’re seeing that drop but I don’t think it will drop below five per cent.”

Act, which has previously announced candidates for Napier and Wairarapa, did not have a Tukituki candidate in the 2017 election, but Jan Daffern accepted a chance to stand and wants voters to have more choice.

She is asking the people of Tukituki to party-vote Act and has a “good feeling ACT is going to do really well”.

“I think we’re going to surprise ourselves. Obviously, it’s good to be optimistic but realistically at the beginning, we went into it like everybody else and as the campaign has developed the future has definitely got brighter.”

She anticipates two winners on Saturday night: ACT and Labour.

Local businessman and New Conservatives’ Nick McMinn-Collard said he is “positive and hopeful” his party’s message has resonated with voters.

The attention they have received and the people they know have voted for them has added to this confidence.

Also contesting the seat are Romana Manning of the Legalise Cannabis Party, Melanie Petrowski of One Party, Advance NZ’s Carl Peterson, and Allister Tosh of the Future Youth Party.

For National’s Nimon this is the start of her political journey and she has indicated that even if she is not successful this time she will keep trying until she is.

Nimon is currently the General Manager of her family’s 115-year old bus company, Nimon Luxury Passenger Transport, based in Hawke’s Bay and Taupo.

She is not oblivious to the fact it will be a “tight race” but has “learnt that you can’t expect anything”.

Nimon believes it comes down to having “somebody that’s here, somebody that listens and somebody that’s approachable”.

“The feedback that I get is that my opponent isn’t present and no matter what way people go I’ve actually got the best interest of the region at heart and that’s coming through and people are seeing that I’m actually a person that wants to see a thriving Napier electorate and I don’t just mean the city, I mean the entire electorate all the way up to the south of Gisborne.”

“I’m getting feedback from people that might party vote a different way but they’re candidate voting for me and I think that just tells you that we need to back a winning horse.”

If elected, she says her priority would be to talk to and listen to the community. But the number one issue she believes needs to be sorted out quickly is crime, and in particular gangs, from the feedback, she has already received.

Incumbent Stuart Nash believes that “in these uncertain times, the people of Napier need someone who is around the cabinet table when the really important decisions are being made, so we can ensure the Napier electorate gets everything it deserves”.

Over the last three years in government, he says he has “advocated very hard for Napier” and believes the electorate has “benefited” because of it”.

However, he is not taking “anything for granted”.

“We’ve been working really hard to get the Labour message out there, to promote what Jacinda and the party stands for to a point where we hope that people have bought into what is best for the future and give two ticks to Labour.”

Deborah Burnside of the New Conservatives and ACT’s Judy Kendall are also after the role of MP.

Burnside says it is “entirely in their hands what occurs on Saturday”.

“I'm confident that I've worked as hard as I could since October 2019 to share New Conservative policies with Napier voters in difficult circumstances.

“After 30 years in the service industry; in retail, travel, transport and logistics, waste and recycling I understand what service is and this is definitely a position of service. 

“I'm well used to resolving issues and delivering on them. I am prepared and ready to be of service to Napier in a new and different way.”

ACT’s Kendall says if the people of Napier want “honesty and integrity in their candidate and somebody who has vowed not to make rash promises” they should vote for her. 

Apart from Nash, she questions the motives of her opponents.

“I actually began to wonder what is the reason Deborah Burnside and Katie Nimon were running candidacy selections because every time I’ve been with them I’ve learnt more about their respective businesses than I have as to what they’re planning to do for the people of the Napier electorate.”

While Green’s James Crow is after the party vote to ensure their “experienced and top MPs get back in”. He believes their current poll standing is a “true value of what the public feel of us over the three years in government”.

“We generally poll a little higher than on the day but then again we’ve never been in government before. So until now we have always polled higher because people had always had positive views of us but had never actually seen the Green’s in a government.

“Once we were in government people are now polling based on if they’re happy or not with the reality of policies that we’ve helped to push forward.”

Also standing in the election are Independent candidates Ian Gaskin and John Smith.

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