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Kevin Stent / Stuff
Jenny Marcroft swearing in at the beginning of Parliament after entering the list in 2017.
New Zealand’s first MP Jenny Marcroft has been ruthlessly downgraded on the party’s roster to the probably unwinnable position of 17.
Marcroft, who entered Parliament on the list in the 2017 election at number nine, has fallen behind eight non-MPs on the list, which the party released on Thursday.
NZ First would have to win more than 12 percent of the party’s votes to get 17 MPs, an unlikely prospect given that the most recent polls have the party in the single digits, with no MP entering Parliament.
All the other sitting MPs are at the top of the list, with leader Winston Peters at number one and MP Fletcher Tabuteau at two.
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The pair are followed by New Zealand first MP Tracey Martin and relatively newcomer Shane Jones in fourth place. Defense Minister Ron Mark sits at five, MP Darroch Ball at six, and MP Mark Patterson at seven.
The highest ranked non-deputy on the list is Talani Meikle, currently Tabuteau’s ministerial adviser. She is followed by Whangārei candidate and former Northland Inc chief David Wilson.
Marcroft has been asked for a comment. She is also the party’s candidate for Auckland Central, but she is highly unlikely to win there – NZ First won just under 2 percent of the vote in the last election.
It is not the first time that a sitting member of the First New Zealand Parliament has been ranked so low by the ranking committee on their list.
Then-MP Richard Prosser was ranked 15th before the 2017 elections, after two terms in Parliament.
Then-MP Asenati Lole-Taylor was ranked 16th in the 2014 elections.
A party spokesman said the list represented a “strong team of highly talented candidates who are committed to promoting the party’s values, policies and principles to put New Zealand and all New Zealanders first.
“New Zealand First has a twenty-seven year proven track record of bringing balance and common sense to our government.”
Marcroft has been the party’s health spokesperson during her term in Parliament.
Peters has generally dismissed polls that show his party is underperforming.
A UMR survey for corporate clients conducted in late August, obtained by Stuff, NZ First showed with 3.8 percent in the party’s vote, below the result of the five percent needed to enter Parliament without winning a seat in the electorate.
The party has put some effort into the Northland seat, where Jones is running, but a TVNZ / Colmar Brunton poll suggested he was a distant third in the seat behind Labor and National candidates.
