Letter hints at July 27 election

By FRANCESCA MOLD political reporter

A letter pointing to the booking of a hall by a South Island returning officer for July 27 has been cited by the National Party as evidence of an early election.

But the country's Chief Electoral Officer, David Henry, says he has not been informed of an election date and polling facilities should not be booked until he has that information.

"There is no way a returning officer can book a hall for any fixed date at the moment," he said. "If someone has tried to book it, they've gone further than they are supposed to."

The letter, with large portions deleted to conceal the identity of the returning officer and the location of the hall, requests information about any events planned for after July 1.

It also asks the person responsible for the hall to fill in an assessment form about facilities available. On the bottom of the form, in the handwriting of the person dealing with the request, is a note "hall booked for 27th July".

On the previous page, headed memorandum, the same handwriting records "most interested and enquired re 27th July or early August".

Mr Henry said returning officers were in the normal stage of preparations for an election year.

Their work involved identifying potential polling places, including checking possible facilities against a list of requirements, and also preparing to recruit staff to run the booths. Mr Henry said staff were trying to get as much of the ground work done as possible before gearing up for action once they had a date.

National MP John Carter, who released the documents last night, said they were not positive proof of a fixed election date, but it was too much of a coincidence when other evidence of a July date was taken into account.

On Wednesday, the Opposition claimed parliamentary staff had been told that the House would rise next month in advance of polling day a few weeks later.

National's Nick Smith also claimed staff in Parliament's Tables Office had said to officials who were working on legislation that Wednesday was the last day for members' bills in this parliamentary session.

Members' days are held every second Wednesday when the House is sitting.