Kiwi fraud spotted

Wellington: A closely fought election on New Zealand soil is at the centre of a voting scandal that is bound to ruffle some feathers.

About 1500 fraudulent votes have been cast for the little spotted kiwi in Forest and Bird’s Bird of the Year competition.

The votes briefly pushed the kiwi to the top of the preferred bird leaderboard, but they have subsequently been removed.

It is not the first time the competition has been hit by a voting scandal.

In 2018, one person voted for the shag more than 3000 times, while in 2017 fake email accounts were created to bolster support for the whitefaced heron.

In 2015, two teenage girls tried to rig the results in favour of the kokako.