With the Mount Roskill by-election less than a month away, campaigning in the Auckland seat left vacant by Phil Goff is kicking up a notch.
Labour Party candidate Michael Wood. Photo: Supplied / Twitter
Of the seven candidates vying for the seat, just two represent parties already in Parliament - Michael Wood, for Labour, and National's Parmjeet Parmar.
And with New Zealand First yesterday joining the Greens and ACT in opting not to stand a candidate, it's looking like a two-horse race between Labour and National.
Mr Goff won the seat with a 8000-vote majority in 2014 but Labour's Michael Wood said he was not taking that kind of support for granted.
"Our starting point isn't Phil's 8000-vote majority, it was the fact we were actually about 2000 votes behind on the party vote last time.
"So I've got to ensure that Labour voters get out and vote, but I'm also going to have to win across people who didn't vote for Labour at the last election," he said.
Along with the billboards and social media campaign, Mr Wood has been out on the streets door-knocking, shaking hands and meeting locals.
"The lesson I got from Phil Goff was that you deal with people as individual human beings and try and win them over, win their trust on a one-to-one basis - that's what I do everyday."
Historically, voter turnout at by-elections is lower than for general elections - and that's something Mr Wood is very conscious of.
"By-elections, they vary between about 30 percent and 60 percent [turnout], so a big part of our operation is encouraging people to vote, educating them, getting them enrolled and then gently, and maybe sometimes not so gently, persuading them to go and do the job."
National Party list MP Parmjeet Parmar. Photo: Supplied / NZ National Party
National's candidate, list MP Parmjeet Parmar, said she was also focused on encouraging people to get out and vote.
She too has been out door-knocking and talking to voters about the issues that are concerning them.
"They are mainly around transport, there are issues with bus stops and bus routes being removed. There are issues around housing, there are issues about small businesses and safety - these are the main issues that are coming up."
Dr Parmar said Labour has taken the Mount Roskill seat for granted and she was running a strong campaign, focused on local issues.
Prime Minister John Key said it would be a big task for National to pull off a win, but not impossible.
"It would be a challenge because it's depending on lots of different factors, but we're onward and upward."
Advance voting begins on 21 November and the by-election will be held on 3 December.
The candidates:
- Michael Wood - Labour
- Parmjeet Parmar - National
- Roshan Nauhria - NZ People's Party
- Richard Goode - Not a Party
- Andrew Leitch - Democrats for Social Credit
- Tua Schuster - Independent
- Brandon Stronge - The Cannabis Party