Act Parliamentary leader John Boscawen surprised everyone on Saturday, announcing he will not seek re-election on the Act party list and plans to retire from Parliament following the November 26 election.
Act Parliamentary leader John Boscawen surprised everyone on Saturday, announcing he will not seek re-election on the Act party list and expects to retire from Parliament following the November 26 election.
He will stand as Act's candidate inthe Tamaki electorate but, obviously, does not expect to win given his comments about leaving parliament after November 26.
“I feel incredibly privileged to have been a Member of Parliament over the past three years, serving on a number of Select Committees, holding the positions of Minister of Consumer Affairs and Associate Minister of Commerce and most recently, becoming the third Parliamentary Leader of the ACT Party,” Mr Boscawen said.
“After much consideration, I’ve decided that my family must come first. However, I will continue to stand as ACT’s candidate in the Tamaki electorate to do everything I can to help ACT win as many party votes as possible.”
Act leader Don Brash expressed regret at Mr Boscawen's decision saying, in an unsual joint statement, that he knew Mr Boscawen had not taken the decision lightly.
The ACT Party board will meet next Saturday to make a decision on how this will affect other list rankings. Mr Boscawen's decision means Act will head into the election without any sitting MPs.
Dr Brash last week announced his revised decision to stand in the North Shore electorate, having previously said he would only seek election on the party list.
