New Labour leader is David Cunliffe

David Cunliffe has been elected as the Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party.

David Cunliffe was elected by a majority in the first round of a preferential three-way Electoral College contest also involving Grant Robertson and Shane Jones.

Moira Coatsworth, Party President, said today:

“The Labour Party congratulates David Cunliffe on his win. David has been elected by a robust and democratic process and has won on the first round with a clear majority. This gives him a strong mandate as leader and he has the full support of the Labour Party.

“Our caucus, members and affiliates had a very strong field of candidates to choose from, and our heartfelt thanks go to David, Grant and Shane for the positive and uplfting tone of the campaign.

“David Cunliffe has the leadership skills and the vision to win the trust of New Zealanders and take Labour to victory in 2014. I have no doubt he will go on to become a great Labour Prime Minister who builds a stronger, fairer and more sustainable New Zealand.”

David Cunliffe is Labour’s 14th leader in the 97 years since the Party was born.

Detailed results are displayed on page 2.

BACKGROUND NOTES

The election was organised by Christchurch-based electionz.com, New Zealand’s leading election services provider. The company has provided election services in New Zealand, Australia and worldwide since July 2000 to hundreds of public and private sector organisations. The methods of voting which they handle include postal, internet and telephone voting. electionz.com is contracted to 39 of New Zealand’s 67 District and City Councils for the upcoming Local Government elections. Other clients include Fonterra, NZ Teachers Council, ICC World Chambers Federation and NZ Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Today, September 15th,is International Day of Democracy, resolved by the United Nations in 2007 to be the day when communities, politicians and political parties worldwide mark the promotion and upholding of the principles of democracy.

ENDS

Labour Party Leadership Election
Results
15 September 2013
HOW THE VOTING SYSTEM WORKS
The system which we have adopted is single round preferential voting system. The winner will need to gain the support of a simple majority of the entire Electoral College. That will require all voters to return individual ballot papers detailing the preference votes cast for each candidate. The first preference votes cast for each candidate will then be aggregated nationally, appropriately weighted according to the strength of vote attached to each voter, across all three sections of the Electoral College. If no candidate gets a simple majority of the Electoral College votes in the first round, the Electoral College result will be recalculated, eliminating the candidate with the lowest percentage of Electoral College and redistributing those votes according to expressed preferences until one candidate exceeds the 52% threshold.

© Scoop Media