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New Zealand First has announced its candidates for electorates across Canterbury and parts of the South Island ahead of the 2026 General Election, with the party fielding a mix of business leaders, local government figures, and first time candidates.
The party’s strongest incumbent presence in the region remains Kaikōura MP Jamie Arbuckle, who was elected to Parliament in 2023 and currently serves as a New Zealand First whip.
MP Jamie Arbuckle
Arbuckle, a former Marlborough District councillor, said his focus remains on regional issues including infrastructure, horticulture, and economic development.
In Christchurch, New Zealand First has selected Shane Wiremu for Christchurch East, Mark Arneil for Christchurch Central, Nathan Walton for Ilam, and Bryce Park for Wigram.
Wiremu brings more than 30 years of leadership experience across New Zealand, Australia and China, while Arneil works as a Digital IT Business Partner with experience spanning the private sector and government.
Walton, a final year law student at the University of Canterbury, currently chairs Young New Zealand First Canterbury and serves on the national executive of the party’s youth wing.
Jackie Farrelly will contest Waimakariri
Park, who is Director of Strategy and Investment at Oakhampton Holdings, has worked on major infrastructure and resource projects throughout New Zealand.
In the wider Canterbury region, Jackie Farrelly will contest Waimakariri, Elizabeth Mundt will stand in Selwyn, Lindsay Kerslake has been selected for Banks Peninsula, and Isaac Nicholson will contest Rangitata.
Farrelly is a tourism business owner with a background in community volunteering, while Mundt is a two term councillor with experience in the equine industry and foster care.
Kerslake brings more than three decades of international leadership experience across several industries, including tourism, agriculture, and digital technologies.
Nicholson, a certified plumber, gasfitter and drainlayer, has spent nearly three decades working in the construction sector after growing up on a dairy farm on the West Coast.
Outside Canterbury, former MP and Whanganui mayor Michael Laws has been selected to stand in Waitaki.
Laws served as a Member of Parliament between 1990 and 1996 before moving into broadcasting, publishing and local government. He has lived in Central Otago since 2013.
