National's Tama Potaka wins Hamilton West seat

December 10, 2022

National says the win is a clear sign the public has had enough of this Government, and that change is coming.

National candidate Tama Potaka has this afternoon been named Hamilton West’s new MP.

Potaka has received 6629 votes with 100% of the votes counted.

The second candidate for the seat, Labour's Georgie Dansey, conceded after trailing behind at 4344 votes - a margin of 2285 votes.

The by-election was triggered following the resignation of MP Gaurav Sharma from Parliament in October.

Potaka told supporters this evening he was determined to "be a voice" for Hamilton West, "identify what needs to be done, work with people and get it done - that's really the mantra of what I stand for".

National Party leader Christopher Luxon called Potaka's win a "fantastic victory for the National Party but also for Tama".

National's Tama Potaka, left, addresses supporters after winning the seat for Hamilton West.

"I think what we've seen is that the people of Hamilton West are really sending a message to this Government to say, 'Hey, listen, this country is heading in the wrong direction, they want it turned around and they want a National government to be able to go get things done' and that's what we're focussed on," he told reporters.

Luxon said the party has "a lot of work ahead of us in the next year, there’s no doubt about it but we’re not going to be complacent".

"We’re going to continue to work incredibly hard. You've seen that in this campaign," he said.

"Tama's done an exceptionally good job and all of the people and all of our team, been very determined to work incredibly hard right up 'til the end and we're going to continue that next year."

"Tama's done an exceptionally good job," he told reporters.

There were 12 candidates vying for the seat, including Sharma.

Sharma received 1156 of the votes.

The polls closed at 7pm today.

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