11 votes later, candidate’s vanished
The Electoral Commission is reviewing complaints about breaches of the Electoral Act — including tweets by prominent sportsmen — but a legal expert says prosecutions are unlikely. The Electoral Act 1993 forbids broadcasting of messages on election day which might influence other voters.
But many potential breaches were reported on social media, including tweets from Jonah Lomu, Israel Dagg, Eric Murray and Hamish Bond written in support of National and John Key on Saturday.
Dagg’s tweet read: “Just voted for @johnkeypm and the National party all the best for tonight.”
Dagg later replaced his tweet with an apology which has also been deleted.
Murray and Bond tweeted their support for Key, but Murray later said he didn’t realise it was against the law, and deleted the post.
Lomu’s tweet supporting John Key was also deleted.
Electoral Commission spokeswoman Anastasia Turnbull said the accounts of Dagg, Lomu and a fake Richie McCaw account had all prompted complaints.
Professor Andrew Geddis of University of Otago said although offenders can be fined up to $20,000, that was highly unlikely.
Professor Geddis said the act could be considered toothless “in the sense that no one’s had to go before the court to answer to it”.
Chief Electoral Officer Robert Peden said the decision to refer an apparent breach to police was made on a case by case basis. Losing elections by spectacular margins appears to be an art form for the lowest-polling political candidate.
Adam John Holland, who gained just 11 votes in the contest for Epsom, faces losing his third $300 nomination deposit in just over a year for failing to win at least 5 per cent of votes in an election.
His other two forays were in the Ikaroa-Rawhiti byelection in June last year and the Christchurch East byelection in November, in which he drew 15 and 31 votes respectively.
Mr Holland, announcing his candidacy in Epsom through the Scoop website on September 1, said National needed an “extremely reliable coalition partner” and he would like to work with it “in securing prosperity for all New Zealanders for the next three years at least”.
But on the eve of the election, on Friday, he said that he had no intention of working with any political partners “if they don’t want to legalise cannabis”.
His initial statement said he had deep roots in Epsom, having lived, studied, worked as a volunteer firefighter, and socialised there for much of his life.
But he is not listed on the 2014 Epsom electoral role, and no longer lives at an Epsom address he gave the Electoral Commission in a signed declaration of expenses for the Christchurch East byelection.
Although he signed the return in April, residents of the property last night said he had not lived there since they took ownership of it in January, and believed he might have moved to Queenstown. Just under 300,000 special votes are still to be counted before the election result is official, prolonging the anxiety for some in marginal seats.
Candidates in just three electorates have a margin of fewer than 1000 votes — Labour’s Trevor Mallard in Hutt South, National’s Nikki Kaye in Auckland Central and United Future’s Peter Dunne in Ohariu.
In Hutt South, only 378 votes separate Labour frontrunner Mallard from National’s Christopher Bishop.
Mr Bishop called Mr Mallard to congratulate him on Saturday night — but not quite to concede until all the votes had been counted.
Yesterday afternoon Mr Mallard said: “I don’t want to portray it as it all being over.”
At 49 on National’s party list, Mr Bishop will enter Parliament regardless of the result in Hutt South. But Mr Mallard will no longer be an MP if he loses, having no place on Labour’s list.
Mr Dunne, who is 930 votes ahead of Labour’s Virginia Andersen in Ohariu, and Ms Kaye, who is leading Labour’s Jacinda Ardern by 647 votes, are unlikely to be toppled.
But in Te Tai Tokerau, Mana’s Hone Harawira has apparently still not conceded to Labour’s Kelvin Davis, despite Mr Davis holding a 1119-vote lead.
Mr Harawira did not speak to media yesterday or respond to a message seeking comment.
Special votes could change party vote dynamics enough for parties to lose or gain MPs in the next fortnight.
National leader John Key said yesterday he did not expect the special vote count to change National’s 61-seat result.
But he predicted that the official result might take one seat off Labour and hand it to the Greens.
The Electoral Commission hopes to release official results at 2pm on Saturday, October 4.