Mangere sisters pick their preferred leader after Electoral Commission invites them to register

Shyla Parikh, aged 4, and her twin 8-year-old sisters, Sia and Dia, have politely turned down a reminder to vote at next month's general elections.

The Mangere youngsters received enrolment letters from the Electoral Commission, saying if they qualified then they were required by law to apply to be on the electoral roll.

The twin girls have drafted responses to registrar of electors Erin Temu.

"Hi Erin," said Sia, "I am too young to vote but if I could vote I would vote for Jacinda Ardern because she is charming and beautiful."

The Labour leader has also won over twin-sister Dia, who wrote: "Hi Erin, I would like to vote for Jacinda Ardern because she is kind and helpful."

The girls' father, Dharmesh Parikh, said his daughters were not really interested in politics but they had seen Ardern on television, who made an impression.

Parikh said the funniest thing about the letters was when youngest daughter, Shyla, heard about political parties she wanted someone to organise her fifth birthday party.

"How cool is that," he said.

He has written a response to Temu on Shyla's behalf, asking the electoral commission to keep her in mind for future elections.

Sisters Dia Parikh, 8 left, Shyla Parikh, 4, and Sia Parikh, 8, made no bones about who they'd like to see as Prime Minister. Photo / Michael Craig

"Shyla is going to be a good role model. I am teaching her to be kind, thoughtful and generous. The future is going to be bright," wrote the vocational literacy adviser.

Dharmesh said he and his wife, Swapna, do not belong to any political party.

A spokeswoman for the Electoral Commission said children sometime receive enrolment letters when someone fills in a New Zealand Post mail redirection and does not tick the box to say the people listed at the address are under the age of 16.

"NZ Post redirection notices are provided to the commission and are used to automatically generate letters to help people who have moved house keep their enrolment details up to date," the spokeswoman said.

The commission is not aware of anyone under the age of 18 using the letters to enrol to vote.

"To actually enrol or update details, a person has to fill in an enrolment form and sign a declaration that the information given is correct," the spokeswoman said.