The Labour Party's candidate for the Dunedin South seat being vacated by long serving Dunedin South MP Clare Curran, says it is a privilege to have earned the trust of Dunedin people so quickly.
Former broadcast journalist and lawyer Ingrid Leary named as Labour's choice for the seat earlier this month, despite only moving to the city in November last year.
"It's unnusal for someone who hasn't lived here for very long to come in and get the trust of the local people, so I'm very aware of that, and very privileged to have their trust.
Ms Leary triumphed in a field of three nominees. Rachel Brooking and Simon McCallum were the unsuccessful candidates.
"There were three strong candidates. We each had advantages and disadvantages as to what we could offer the role, and I really admire the dignity with which the three of us conducted ourselves and the campaign," Ms Leary said.
"It was like a pressure cooker personal development course ... I’ve never done anything this intense before, and I felt even if I wasn’t selected it would have been a thoroughly worthwhile journey for what I got out of it."
Ms Leary (52), a mother of three, was director of the British Council New Zealand for the past 11 years.
"That was really exciting and I learned a lot of skills from that, and I felt that with other things I had done such as law and advocacy journalism, that it was time to give something back to the community," Ms Leary said.
Ms Leary and her family moved to Dunedin last November.
"A number of factors came together which made it an ideal opportunity to look at taking the baton on from Clare if I was lucky enough to be chosen to do that," Ms Leary said.
Ms Curran said Ms Leary was a bright, enthusiastic and talented candidate.
