National Could Win Hamilton East

Hamilton East is a seat that National should win back from Labour, ACT New Zealand President Catherine Judd said today.

Ms Judd told more than 80 people attending an ACT Party regional conference in Hamilton that the seat was one of National's best prospects in the region.

"This seat is held by Labour's Dianne Yates with a majority of 614 votes," Ms Judd said.

"At the 2002 general election the National candidate, Tony Steel won over 12,000 constituency votes. If you add to this the more than 4,000 personal votes gained by ACT, New Zealand First, United Future and the Christian Heritage candidates, Dianne Yates would have been resoundingly defeated by over 3,500 votes".

Ms Judd said Hamilton West also provided hope for National.

"With a credible candidate selected earlier, someone of the calibre say of our own high-ranked Waikato candidate, Andy Davies, a vigorous campaign and the backing of other centre-right parties, the voters of Hamilton West would have real choice.

"Likewise, National must select strong candidates earlier in the seats of Rotorua and Taupo. Remember National held the seat of Rotorua from 1960 to 1999.

"In Tauranga, ACT's approach would be the same as in 2002 when it went `unashamedly' for the party vote," Ms Judd said.

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