NZ rank and file gives nod to Left leaning Cunliffe

NZ's Labour Party has chosen its leader in a manner much like the ALP's new method.

NEW Zealand's Labour Party has chosen its leader in a manner much like the ALP's new method -- and come up with David Cunliffe, the candidate furthest to the Left, who was supported in the first round of voting by just 11 of Labour's 34 MPs.

The members of the party -- who number about 50,000, 25 per cent more than the ALP -- have 40 per cent of the vote, the caucus 40 per cent and Labour-affiliated unions 20 per cent.

In the weekend vote, Mr Cunliffe won 70.8 per cent of union support in the first round and 78 per cent in the second, while more than 60 per cent of the members backed him in the first and 68 per cent in the second.

Even in the second round, he failed to secure majority support from his fellow MPs, 18 of whom opposed him.

Jennifer Curtin, associate professor of comparative politics at Auckland University, said yesterday that the party members had become disillusioned with how their leaders were being chosen, and changed the rules at their last annual conference in November.

Phil Goff, the leader who lost heavily to National Prime Minister John Key at the last election, was replaced by David Shearer, who defeated Mr Cunliffe in the partyroom ballot in 2011.

But Mr Shearer, who last year demoted Mr Cunliffe to the back bench for appearing to undermine him, made little dent in Mr Key's high polling and quit, triggering the new-style Labour election.

This involved 12 primary-like meetings for party members around the country, at which all three candidates spoke -- Shane Jones, who was eliminated in the first round of voting, Grant Robertson and Mr Cunliffe.

Ms Curtin said that the Labour turnout, a key indicator in countries without compulsory voting, had been falling.

She said overall union membership was lower in NZ, at about 15 per cent, than in Australia. A former diplomat like Mr Robertson, 41, Mr Cunliffe, 50, is married with two children. The election date, expected to be late next year, will be chosen by Mr Key.