5 Mar 2015

Poll picks Winston for Northland

6:56 pm on 5 March 2015

A snap poll of Northland voters has New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as the frontrunner in the upcoming by-election, in what had been considered a safe National seat.

Winston Peters after voting in Auckland.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters Photo: RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson

The 3News Reid Research poll of 500 voters was conducted between Monday and Wednesday this week.

National, Labour and Act have all put candidates forward after Mike Sabin, who had held the seat for National since 2011, resigned suddenly in January.

However, the snap poll shows Mr Peters has emerged as the favourite candidate, with 35 percent of those surveyed in support.

National's candidate Mark Osborne has 30 percent and Labour's Willow-Jean Prime has 16 percent while 19 percent don't know who they will vote for.

The margin of error was 4.4 percent.

The confirmed candidates are:

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