Labour has selected a doctor and former MP to contest the Botany electorate at this year’s general election.
Dr Anae Neru Leavasa was announced as the party’s Botany candidate in late March.
“I’m honoured that the Labour Party has placed its trust in me as the candidate for this wonderful electorate,” Leavasa said in comments reported by the Indian Weekender.
“I’ll repay that trust with a high-energy campaign to win the seat for Labour.”
He said his platform was built on everyday concerns.
“I believe we can strengthen our communities and our country by getting more of the basics right, creating jobs and improving housing as well as making health care more accessible for every family in Aotearoa,” Leavasa said.
Leavasa was the MP for Takanini from 2020 to 2023, winning the seat when it was created and losing it at the following election.
He is a general practitioner who worked in Mangere for 12 years before entering Parliament, and is now clinical director of a primary health organisation.
Leavasa made his pitch on the electorate vote when he spoke to Pacific Media Network at the end of March.
“All it takes is a couple of ticks so if you’re ticking that party vote you might as well tick a candidate that’s got experience, that can look after the electorate and who’s based in the electorate as a medical doctor,” he said.
Botany is held by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who has represented the seat since 2020 and is expected to contest it again.
Luxon won Botany in 2023 by 16,323 votes.
National took 58.74 per cent of the party vote in the electorate that year, against 20.36 per cent for Labour.
Boundary changes since then have extended the electorate further into the eastern suburbs.
Botany is one of three electorates covering this paper’s circulation area, alongside Pakuranga and Takanini.
Disclosure: The Howick & Eastern Post’s director, Jami-Lee Ross, was MP for Botany from 2011 until the 2020 Election when he did not contest the Botany seat.
