National Party Mt Albert candidate’s actions, and Prime Minister John Key’s subsequent comments, simply reinforce the fact that this by-election is a two-horse race between Labour’s David Shearer and myself, ACT New Zealand MP and Mt Albert candidate John Boscawen said today.
“Clearly, National’s decision to run Ms Lee in the by-election instead of Ravi Musuku – who ran in Mt Albert for National in the past two General Elections – was a big mistake,” Mr Boscawen said.
“Mr Musuku was a hard-working and very successful candidate, coming within 2,000 votes of winning the Party vote in Mt Albert against former MP and Prime Minister Helen Clark.
“Pushing him aside in favour of Ms Lee – who, given the events of the past week, clearly has no hope of winning this by-election – has left Mt Albert with only one credible Centre-Right candidate to choose from: me.
“I have been saying that this is a two horse race for sometime and Ms Lee’s actions only further confirm that this is the case.
“Mt Albert residents who had previously considered giving their vote to Ms Lee need not be concerned. By giving their vote to me – rather than wasting it on her – they can still ensure that their concerns and issues will be represented in Parliament,” Mr Boscawen said.