Lesley Soper

Parliament of New Zealand
Years	Term	Electorate	List	Party
2005–2005	47th	List	43	Labour
2007–2008	48th	List	45	Labour

Lesley Soper (born 5 November 1954) is a New Zealand politician.

Political career

She was a Labour Party list member of Parliament for several months in 2005, replacing Jonathan Hunt, and she returned to Parliament in 2007 to fill the vacancy caused by Georgina Beyer's resignation.

Soper is a member of the Labour Party, and was ranked 43rd on Labour's party list in the 2002 elections. She has also contested the Clutha-Southland seat since it was created in the 1996 elections, placing second to National's Bill English on each occasion. She entered Parliament upon the retirement of Jonathan Hunt, being declared elected on 4 April 2005 and sworn in the following day. In the 2005 elections, Soper had hoped to contest the Invercargill seat, but was defeated in the nomination process by Wayne Harpur. Her position on the 2005 list was forty-fifth, and she did not return to parliament until 2007.

Works

In addition to serving as Women's Vice President of the Labour Party, Soper has worked for the Council of Trade Unions and the New Zealand Educational Institute. She has also served on the Southland District Health Board.

In the 2008 General Election, she was not re-elected due to a low position on her party list. She also failed to capture the Invercargill electorate from incumbent Eric Roy (National Party) by over 6,000 votes.

External links

• Parliament website
• Labour Party website