Labour’s Poto Williams has a healthy lead in the Christchurch East by-election after the counting of advance votes.
With 3100 votes counted, Williams had collected 2035 of these with National’s Matthew Doocey a distant second on 743.
The by-election was triggered when Labour MP Lianne Dalziel resigned to successfully contest the Christchurch mayoralty.
Dalziel held a comfortable majority in the electorate which was severely hit by the Christchurch quakes.
ends

Keith Rankin: Has Sweden Become A De Facto Apartheid Narco State?
Bruce Mahalski: Change In The Weather #194
Binoy Kampmark: Dangers To The Fourth Estate - The 2026 World Press Freedom Index
Richard S. Ehrlich: Strait Of Hormuz Blockades & Thailand's Land Bridge
Keith Rankin: 'I Am A Semite'
Binoy Kampmark: Show Me The Money - A Loutish Administration Confronts A Craven Congress