National’s list “a slice of middle New Zealand”

National Party President Judy Kirk has hailed National’s 2005 list as an accurate representation of hard-working middle New Zealanders.

“These are people who work hard, help their communities, bring up their families and get on with life. They are all great New Zealanders in their own right and I am thrilled they are all on National’s list,” Judy Kirk says.

Mrs Kirk says she is delighted with the calibre of candidates the Party has assembled, saying it is a culmination of three year’s hard work since the last election.

The Party’s 2003 constitutional changes saw National re-emphasise the importance of constituency candidates in the Party’s list structure. The result is that 62 of the 65 list candidates are standing in a constituency seat as well as on the list.

“We are determined that most of our candidates have a direct link with an electorate. Also, by limiting each electorate to putting forward one candidate as both their electorate and list nominee, we have ensured strong contests in most electorates, with the result being the high calibre of candidates we have attracted for this election.”

Another key initiative has been the establishment of a Candidate College to train candidates for the election.

“Most of our new candidates have been through the College,” Mrs Kirk says.

“We have met the candidates several times in the last two years, and the training they have received and the familiarisation that has occurred between them and the Party has been invaluable.”

The Party had previously agreed that National’s existing MPs would be ranked in their current seating order in parliament. Therefore, MPs ranked 17 to 26 are listed in order of their year of election to parliament and then alphabetically, as they are in the House.

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