Background
Duynhoven was born in New Plymouth on 22 June 1955.
Duynhoven was born in New Plymouth on 22 June 1955.
He was the mayor of the city of New Plymouth and surrounding districts from 2010-2013. He assumed office in October 2010. He is currently a NPDC councilor representing the New Plymouth City ward.
He left Spotswood College at age sixteen to become an electrician, and eventually became technical teacher at the collegiate and polytechnic level
Duynhoven entered Parliament in the 1987 elections, winning the New Plymouth seat from incumbent National Party Member of Parliament, Tony Friedlander. In the 2008 election he lost to New Zealand National Party candidate, Jonathan Young by 105 votes, the smallest margin in the election.
In 2003, it was alleged that Duynhoven might have accidentally violated an electoral regulation, thus depriving him of his seat. This claim arose after Duynhoven applied to resume his citizenship of the Netherlands.
His father was from the Netherlands, and Duynhoven had possessed citizenship from birth, but had temporarily lost it due to a change of Netherlands law.
According to electoral law, applying for foreign citizenship would require Duynhoven to vacate his seat. The law was seen by many as misguided, however, and Duynhoven, with his huge majority, was almost certain to re-enter Parliament in the event of a by-election. As such, the government passed an act retroactively amending the law.
He did not stand as a party list candidate in the 2008 general election.
In October 2010, Duynhoven was elected Mayor of New Plymouth. Three years later, on 12 October 2013, Mr Duynhoven became the first New Plymouth mayor since Edward Hill in 1956 to be ousted after one term."
On 11 January 2015, Duynhoven confirmed months of speculation that he would stand in the upcoming New Plymouth by-election to replace two councillors, John McLeod and Len Howers, who resigned in late-2014.
Duynhoven said his decision to stand in the by-election comes after receiving "a huge number of phone calls and visits from people asking me to stand.".
He was a for the New Plymouth electorate from 1987-1990, and again from 1993-2008.