Hamilton West electorate
Hamilton West covers Hamilton’s western half, up until the Waikato River which dives it from Hamilton East. It covers suburbs such as Nawtown, Fitzroy, and Melville. Tama Potaka has been the MP since winning the seat in a 2022 by-election and won re-election with a margin of 17,595. National also won the party vote in 2023 with 41% of the vote, followed by Labour on 26%. The seat is regarded as a bellwether seat, as with the exception of 1993, the seat has always been won by the party which won the plurality of the vote.
Hamilton West candidates
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Donna Pokere-Phillips
Why I'm standing
I am running because democracy should belong to people daily, not just election day. Parliament operates on powers without duties, passing laws with no enforceable accountability. My motivation is not imposing my vision for Christchurch East or New Zealand, but representing yours through binding Citizens' Initiated Referenda (0.9% threshold) and a Citizens' Accountability Chamber. These tools give you direct power to make law when Parliament fails, ensuring bottom-up accountability over top-down promises.
About me
I make a good representative because I bind myself to verifiable mechanisms, making my personal traits irrelevant. My commitment is not to impose my vision for Christchurch East, but to install binding Citizens' Initiated Referenda and a Citizens' Accountability Chamber via Standing Orders. These tools ensure accountability is procedural, giving residents direct power to hold me to account. My role is purely to transmit your mandate through established parliamentary channels.
My priorities
- Create a system for collecting constituent voting and advocacy instructions.
- Introduce a Private Member's Bill for binding Referenda using Standing Orders.
- Submit OUA's demanding official data on top local issues enabling informed decisions by constituents.
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Things to know...
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