Northland electorate
Northland is currently held by Labour's Willow-Jean Prime, who won by a narrow margin of 163 – one of the smallest margins in the country. In 2020, Labour won the greatest share of party votes in Northland – 44% to National's 27%. Since the seat was established in 1996, it has been mainly held by National MPs, except for 2015 to 2017 when Winston Peters won the seat at a by-election, and 2020 when Labour won.
Northland candidates
Explore the candidates in your area
Mike Finlayson
Why I'm standing
Together we face huge economic and environmental challenges that 'politics as usual' hasn't and can't resolve. My aim is to help enable and empower communities to make positive contributions by re-localising both our economy and governance to bring people together around shared values creating a more thoughtful and caring society. Looking after our future generations and the environment that they will inherit is super-important to me and I hope it's one of your priorities too.
About me
Having 40+ years of governance experience in regional council, Ministerial-appointed (including co-governance) boards and environmental and civil-rights advocacy organisations gives me a wide perspective of the issues we face locally, nationally and globally. The Northland Age editor described me as one of the hardest working councillors he'd seen in over 40 years. I'll work even harder as MP for the people of Northland in a way that will engage and support all Northlanders.
My priorities
- Build strong resilient localised economy to enable Northlanders to thrive in challenging conditions.
- Design transport infrastructure resilient to climate change. Get heavy traffic off roads and onto rail.
- Create more inclusive governance enabled by community wisdom and active participation in decisions.
Get across the policies, candidates and parties
Don’t know who to vote for? Policy.nz is the complete guide to the 2023 general election. Compare the parties, candidates and policies to see where you stand.
Policies
Compare the parties’ positions on the key issues this election
Candidates
See the electorate candidates running in your local area
Parties
Learn about each political party, its leaders and candidate list
Things to know...
Your two votes shape New Zealand’s next parliament. You need to be enrolled to vote.
Read explainerEnrol to vote by Sunday 25 October
You need to be enrolled before you can vote. You can enrol online at vote.nz.
Voting day is Saturday 7 November
Head to your nearest voting place on the day, or vote early from 26 October.
You get two votes
One for a party (the party vote) and one for a person in your area (the electorate vote).
Your party vote is the most powerful
It decides how many seats each party gets in Parliament. That’s what Policy helps you figure out.
