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.
