KEY POINTS:
Some Chinese voters are crying foul over Labour's tactics to get the elderly to the ballot box early.
Botany resident Harry Lu plans to lodge a complaint with the Electoral Commission today after his mother-in-law was asked to cast her vote, and told who to vote for.
On
October 24 she was taken by Labour officials to an early voting station at Panmure Library following a talk by Labour's Chinese candidate Raymond Huo.
Lu alleges elderly Chinese voters are being taken to early-voting stations by officials, coerced into casting their votes early - and being told where to put their two ticks.
Mr Lu said in Mandarin: "I feel that the Labour Party is taking advantage of the vulnerability of elderly Chinese voters."
His mother-in-law, who wanted to be known as Mrs Chen, 72, said she felt "cheated" after casting her vote because she didn't get the chance to listen to the policies of other parties.
"I don't even know who I voted for. I just followed the instructions of the Labour Party man on how to fill in my form because my English is not very good. He was standing right beside me and telling me what to write and where to put my ticks," she said in Mandarin.
Yesterday, the Blockhouse Bay Chinese Association held a meeting after some members said they had been pressured to cast their votes.
A 73-year-old New Lynn resident said she was told by Labour activists that there wouldn't be any translators on election day, so she needed to vote early.
"I didn't vote last time, and I was told that it was against the law, and I could be arrested," she said.
National's Pansy Wong, New Zealand's only Chinese MP, slammed Labour's tactics as "exploitation of Chinese senior citizens' lack of understanding of the [election] process."
Lawyer Raymond Huo, a Chinese candidate for Labour, said representatives from the party had spoken at nearly 20 Chinese organisations in Auckland.
Susan Zhu, Labour's other Chinese list candidate, admits that getting elderly Chinese voters to vote early is part of the party's ethnic campaign strategy. She said no attempts were made to influence their vote.
"We don't tell them who to vote for and how to vote, but we say that early voting may be suitable for elderly Chinese because of language issues," she said.
Ms Zhu said Labour was also engaging in other ways to mobilise voters in the Chinese and other ethnic minority communities, such as phone canvassing.
In 2005, Labour Party activists and "foot soldiers" on the ground in South Auckland turned an extra 100,000 people out to vote to avert a possible National victory, beating it by just 45,506 votes.
