Avon contender by August 8

Press, 16 July 1986, Page 8

Avon contender by August 8

Labour’s candidate for the Avon seat at the next General Election should be chosen on August 8, according to the general secretary of the party, Mr Tony TimmS. The late withdrawal of the sitting member, Mrs Mary Batchelor, has reduced the field of aspirants to three. They are two trade unionists, Messrs Larry Sutherland and Garth Lomax, and a Springfield poultry farmer, Mr Bill Woods. The venue for the meeting had not been selected, nor had the three head office representatives on the selection panel, Mr Timms said.

The number of local representatives on the selection panel will de-

pend on the number of party members in the electorate compared with the votes received in the last election.

In 1983 there were two representatives plus the result of the straw poll vote at the meeting itself, which counts for one vote. The withdrawal of Mrs Batchelor has taken much of the drama from this year’s selection. In 1983 two selection meetings were required before Mrs Batchelor emerged as a narrow winner over a trade union secretary, Mr Paul Piesse.

Avon is one of the safest Labour seats in New Zealand and the two front-runners for selection are likely to be Messrs Lomax and Sutherland.