INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES AUSTRALIA 1 OCT - NZ LABOUR PARTY: CUNLIFFE LOSING GROUND

New Zealand's Labour Party MPs have demanded an early resolution to the party's leadership crisis. David Cunliffe, Opposition leader and Labour's parliamentary party chief had already resigned and is planning to seek re-election through the party-primary. His rival will be Grant Robertson. The MPs are worried that a perception of infighting within the party will add further injury to the party's standing after the drubbing in the elections. The parliamentary party is now led by acting leader David Parker and Annette King as deputy leader. On Tuesday, Parker held a meeting with the party's 32 MPs and sought their views. They all wanted the party primary to be held before the inquiry into the Labour's election campaign is concluded, reported yahoo. nz news Some MPs felt an interim report before the primary will be appropriate. Mr Parker has ruled himself out of the contest and the only other MP having some interest is former leader David Shearer. This opens opportunity for Mr.Cunliffe, but his problem is lack of majority in the caucus after the responsibility of the defeat was thrust on his shoulders. The Labour party had the most miserable performance by garnering a measly 24.7 per cent of popular vote. Cunliffe's rival Grant Robertson is optimistic. He counts on the support of the caucus that is "very strong" and believes that message will go down to all levels in the party primary. The primary voting is weighted in such a fashion, with Caucus controlling 40 per cent, members 40 per cent and party unions 20 per cent. In the last primary held in Sept 2013 that replaced Mr Shearer, Labour had strength of 34 MPs, of which one third supported Mr Cunliffe. Mr Cunliffe is insisting on a fresh mandate for himself to lead the party to victory in the 2017 election. Despite the defeat, Mr Cunliffe is confident that he is the right person to lead the party. Calling himself a battle-hardened leader, Cunliffee even said he is the only leader whom PM John Key may not want to face. Cunliffe's suffered a setback on Tuesday when David Parker withdrew his support, reported Stuff.Co.Nz. But Cunliffe was offered support by influential MP Louisa Wall. She said she would nominate him to contest via the primary. LINK: http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/568321/20141001/new-zealand-labour-caucus-cunliffe-john-key.htm#.VC3en86Imq0