Hutt South Green candidate Susanne Ruthven has had a hard job getting heard in an electorate where National and Labour are campaigning strongly.

It was supposed to be a meet and greet, a get-to-know-you with candidates standing in the Hutt South seat, ahead of the general election.

Instead it turned into a farewell for Green Party candidate Susanne Ruthven who announced she would withdraw from the race at the pre-election debate on Tuesday night.

She said she made the decision to withdraw just a few days ago, because she had taken up a new job as chief legal adviser at the Ministry for Pacific Peoples.

SUPPLIED Labour's Hutt South candidate Ginny Andersen says: "I'm sad to see her go as she has worked really hard."

She said her decision had absolutely nothing to do with the recent controversy over co-leader Metiria Turei's refusal to step down in the wake of revelations she lied to obtain a benefit.

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JUSTINE HALL Susanne Ruthven accepted her new role in early July, but said she did not consider stepping down as a candidate until her return from a month's holiday at the weekend.

Ruthven, 36, who is constitutional lawyer, started her new job on Monday after returning from a month's holiday in Europe.

"It is literally, accepted a job, two days into it I decided the right thing to do for the ministry was to prioritise that.

"That was my decision.

"It's poor timing, of course."

She accepted the new role in early July, but said she did not consider stepping down until her return to New Zealand at the weekend.

In order to campaign she would need to take a leave of absence from her new job, and said she decided to prioritise the job.

She said she spoke with a Green Party co-convenor before she attended the event on Tuesday night, and told him she would be stepping down. But she had not spoken to Turei or co-leader James Shaw about her decision.

She denied she was stepping down to ease the way for Labour candidate Ginny Andersen, and said she was unsure if the Green Party would find a replacement.

"Nothing to do with Labour. I haven't considered what is happening with Labour."

Green Party co-convenor John Ranta said: "The party wishes Susanne well in her role."

The Greens have yet to decide whether they will stand anyone else in the Hutt South electorate.

Andersen, who was at the meeting at Waiwhetu Uniting Church in Woburn, Lower Hutt, said she was not aware Ruthven intended to stand down.

"I'm sad to see her go as she has worked really hard, but I wish her all the best in her new position."

It was too early to tell whether Ruthven's withdrawal would improve her own chances, she said. "That will depend on what the Green Party intend to do from here."

National candidate for Hutt South Chris Bishop was also at the meeting on Tuesday night.

He said the news came as "a bit of a shock and a surprise".

Mike Barton co-organised the Meet the Candidates evening.

The evening was billed as an opportunity to hear the candidates key policies, and ask questions of the respective candidtes.

The Waiwhetu/Lower Hutt Peace Group have been holding the events for several decades, but this was likely the first occasion where someone had withdrawn at one, Barton said.

Current Hutt South MP Trevor Mallard, who is not standing at the September election, said: "It's sad to see someone who has put so much into the Green Party over the last two elections, but has been unable to see it through."

The reasons for the decision were a matter "for her and the Green Party".

Until accepting her new job, Ruthven, a mother of four, worked at Harbour Chambers, alongside former prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer, specialising in human rights and international law.

Her decision to withdraw comes a day after Green MPs David Clendon and Kennedy Graham stepped down in protest at Turei's refusal to quit in the wake of revelations she lied to obtain a benefit.