Labour is heading towards a smashing victory in Dunedin, with the Greens second in the party vote. And Taieri - picked as a tight electorate - is not even close.
With 23.7% of the vote counted Ingrid Leary(5505) was comfortably beating Liam Kernaghan (2554) in Taieri. Labour was on 60.6% and National 20.4%
In Dunedin with 38.7% of the vote counted David Clark (12,246) had three times the vote of Michael Woodhouse (4019). Labour is on 54.4% with the Green Party second on 20.7%
Dunedin National candidate Michael Woodhouse admitted the tide was "stronger than we expected".
He put it down to Covid-19.
"Our own internal issues have not helped."
“I just can’t believe that we’re beating Gerry Brownlee in Ilam,” one man said.
A huge cheer went up when the television showed Liz Craig leading early on in Invercargill, but party strategists were turning their heads to a fresh possibility— Labour might win so many electorates some of its list candidates, such as Dunedin’s Rachel Brooking, might not make it to Parliament.