Lianne Dalziel

Who is Lianne Dalziel?

Lianne Audrey Dalziel is the Mayor of Christchurch. She was a member of the New Zealand Parliament for 23 years and was Minister of Immigration, Commerce, Minister of Food Safety and Associate Minister of Justice in the Fifth Labour Government. She resigned from Cabinet on 20 February 2004 after apparently lying about a leak of documents to the media, but was reinstated as a Minister following Labour's return to office after the 2005 election. She resigned from Parliament effective 11 October 2013 to contest the Christchurch mayoral election on the following day and since the incumbent, Bob Parker, decided not to stand again, she was widely regarded as the top favourite for that position. Preliminary results see her having received nearly 50,000 more votes than her nearest rival, Paul Lonsdale, and she was thus declared the 46th Mayor of Christchurch. Her resignation from Parliament has caused a by-election in the Christchurch East electorate, which will be held on 30 November.