Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson has kept her job, but party members have voted to re-open nominations for the second co-leader role currently held by James Shaw.
The move comes after Shaw became the first co-leader to be challenged since 2013.
The party re-confirms their leaders every year in an electoral college-style system, with each electorate getting delegates to vote with.
In a statement on Saturday, the party said Davidson had been retained, but the second position would be re-opened for nominations.
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Shaw and Davidson were the only nominations, but the party’s construction allowed nominations to be re-opened for a position if at least 25% of votes cast chose that option for a position.
While Davidson was kept on as the party’s female co-leader, the other co-leader position, which can be filled by someone of any gender, broke the 25% threshold, the party said.
Both Davidson and Shaw previously told Stuff they wanted to stay in their roles until the 2023 general election.
Shaw and Davidson are due to give a statement at Parliament at 5.30pm on Saturday.
Shaw was elected as the party’s male co-leader in 2015, replacing a retiring Russel Norman.
Shaw’s position has been under pressure recently, with Dunedin activist and software developer James Cockle challenging him at the Greens’ annual general meeting in August 2021 – the first such challenge since 2013.
Shaw comfortably staved off the challenge, getting 116 candidate votes to Cockle’s four.
James Shaw and Marama Davidson have been Green Party co-leaders since 2015 and 2018, respectively. (File photo)
While the Greens have historically had one male and one female co-leader, members voted in May to change the structure to have one female and one of any gender, with at least one leader being Māori.
Davidson became co-leader in 2018, replacing Metiria Turei after easily defeating the only other candidate Julie Anne Genter with 110 votes to 34.
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