This is getting nasty.... firstly the Maori Party reveal information of abuse on one of their candidates by some people opposed to co-governance and now the Nats have outlined abuse on them including one candidate who has had to move house.
Campaign terror: National candidates targeted by gang members
National Party claims candidates, volunteers abused by gang members on campaign.
The National Party claims some of its candidates and volunteers have been abused by gang members on the campaign trail.
The party claims the anti-National rhetoric has been stirred up by former senior public servant and lifetime Mongrel Mob member Harry Tam, who has been holding voting education workshops across the country.
One incident allegedly involves Auckland Central candidate Mahesh Muralidhar who said a senior Head Hunters member filmed him and his wife in a restaurant and shared it with followers, with an “abusive and intimidating message”.
The most serious of the allegations is a National candidate who says they were forced to move house after a threat from a gang - National says it won’t release any further information to protect that person and their family.
The party also claims death threats were made to a volunteer in Auckland, another was attacked by a dog, and over the weekend several volunteers were abused and followed by gang members in Hawke’s Bay.
Manurewa candidate Siva Kilari said he had a bottle of beer thrown over him, has had volunteers frequently intimidated, and his house broken into.
National Party campaign chair Chris Bishop said New Zealand deserved a “free and fair election campaign in which every party can express their views”.
“Sadly, malevolent actors are seeking to disrupt National’s campaign."
We are taking the unprecedented step of releasing more information about these incidents so New Zealanders are aware of the stand-over tactics some are resorting to stop National’s plans to crack down on crime and scare New Zealanders away from voting.”
Bishop claimed National’s policies were harsher on gangs than Labour’s, which he believed to be behind the violence.
It comes as the party’s police spokesman Mark Mitchell faces questions over playing politics after making claims on social media about confronting gang members at Parliament on Thursday, despite being told repeatedly the people were not gang members themselves.
The confrontation came after a hīkoi, led by Matilda Kahotea (Ngāti Pūkenga), aimed at opposing National and Act’s policies on the gangs and delivering a petition, calling for gang families to be involved in policies impacting them.
Luxon today didn’t address questions over whether Mitchell had been trying to score political points with the untrue claims.
He said National condemned “any threats and intimidation on any political candidate in the property”.
They had been “pretty full on” for the party members, he said.
All incidents had been reported to police.
The National Party revelations come after Te Pāti Māori Hauraki-Waikato candidate Hana Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke’s Waikato home was invaded, vandalised and left with a threatening letter in what she claimed was a politically motivated attack.
Labour’s Taranaki-King Country candidate Angela Roberts also revealed she was slapped by an aggressive member of the public while at a local election debate last week.
www.newshub.co.nz
