The release of the 2026 Labour and Green Party lists has
delivered contrasting fortunes for Northland’s parliamentary hopefuls. It has
created guaranteed safety nets for two high-profile MPs while leaving a local
challenger facing a near-impossible mountain to climb.
At 49th on the party list, Labour’s Whangārei candidate, Dr Gary Payinda, has virtually no chance of securing a list seat based on current polling. He now faces a must-win battle to wrest the Whangārei electorate from National.
In contrast, Labour’s Willow-Jean Prime has secured her
political future with a seventh-place ranking on the Labour Party list, up two
places from 2023. This comes despite her demotion in Labour’s shadow cabinet
following a widely criticised stint as education spokesperson.
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon’s return to Parliament is also
all but assured, having climbed three places on the party list to seventh.
Based on current polling, the Greens are expected to win at least 12 seats.
The high list placings of Prime and Lyndon set up a
fascinating dynamic in the hotly contested Māori electorate of Te Tai Tokerau,
where both are squaring off against independent incumbent Mariameno Kapa-Kingi,
a former Māori Party candidate, and the new Māori Party candidate, Aperahama
Edwards—the activist who led the illegal landing on the Poor Knights Islands
last October (Letterbox Issue #35).