Labour's Vietnam-based candidate pulls out of election race

Warrick Cleine will no longer stand for Labour at the 2026 election.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins confirmed the withdrawal on 22 September. Cleine was at number 30 on Labour's party list. That list is like a team sheet, it sets the order for who gets into Parliament through the party vote. He lives in Vietnam and runs consulting firm KPMG's Vietnam and Cambodia business as chief executive, according to RNZ.

Hipkins said Cleine had planned to move back to New Zealand to campaign. He said Cleine gave that indication when he put his name forward for selection.

That move is now off. Hipkins said Cleine can no longer commit to the campaign and is no longer able to return to New Zealand to campaign.

Hipkins said Cleine made the decision himself. He said Labour did not advise him to withdraw.

Both men cited changed circumstances. Cleine said his circumstances had changed, according to Newstalk ZB. Hipkins gave the same explanation, according to the NZ Herald.

The Herald had described Cleine as a star Vietnam-based Labour candidate on 21 September. Days earlier, Hipkins had said he was confident Cleine would return from Vietnam and enter Parliament, according to the NZ Herald.

Cleine set a different test for his return. He said he would only move back to New Zealand if he was elected as an MP. Reporting by Newstalk ZB, cited by the Herald on 18 September, had him still living in Vietnam at that point. He was standing for the 2026 election.

The broader context here is that the withdrawal closes a difficult week for Labour, and the pattern matters more than one vacancy. Number 30 showed Labour saw him as a likely future MP. To pick someone living overseas, to say he would return, then to lose him days later, prompts questions in the party about checks and promises on campaigning.

In my view, the issue is not his work history but being here. Voters expect to meet candidates. Media expect to question them. Rivals will ask if someone based offshore can do the local work list MPs must do. Hipkins first said Cleine could do it after the election. Cleine said he would return only if elected. That gap was hard to hold.

Looking ahead, the immediate problem is gone. Labour must still finalise its list and run its campaign without a man it had named as part of its next intake.