22 Apr 2009

Nine seek to be Labour candidate for Mt Albert

8:05 pm on 22 April 2009

The Labour Party will select its candidate for the upcoming Mt Albert by-election from a list of nine people - none of whom were on its 2008 party list.

The seat was vacated after former prime minister and Labour MP Helen Clark took up a position as head of the United Nations Development Programme in New York.

Nominations closed at 5pm on Wednesday.

Labour Party president Andrew Little says the by-election will be hard fought and it is critical for the party to have a strong candidate.

He says all Labour's potential candidates have solid credentials to be an effective representative for the seat.

They are: Meg Bates, Glenda Fryer, Simon Mitchell, Stuart Prossor, David Shearer, Farida Sultana, Chris Tremewan, Rhema Vaithianathan and Helen White.

Labour will select its candidate for Mt Albert on 3 May.