Wellington’s Labor Party steadfast accumulated at the Wharewaka on the waterfront to see the political race results move in. There were the old heads – previous PM Geoffrey Palmer, Winnie Laban – and youthful blood.
What’s more, the most intense cheer of the night sought one of them. Ibrahim Omer, initially from Eritrea, came to New Zealand as an exile and on Saturday night got one of numerous New Zealand MPs.
It was everything except a given going into Saturday night that Grant Robertson would take Wellington Central for Labor, as would Paul Eagle for Rongotai. Furthermore, typically they did, with eye-watering edges.
However, in Ōhāriu, on the city’s northern edge, Greg O’Connor was anxiously heading into Saturday night on the rear of a 2017 political race that saw him scarcely scratch in. With a low setting on the gathering list, Saturday was sink or swim for the previous police association chief.
He didn’t need to be stress out
As 95 percent of the vote was tallied, his previous forecast – that he possessed a great deal of won – was demonstrated.