Nats ponder electoral petition

By AUDREY YOUNG

National will use its recount of votes in Tauranga to assess whether it has evidence to mount a more serious electoral petition, says party president John Slater.

"We will have highly skilled scrutineers going through this count and taking very, very detailed notes of what's occurring and we would make a judgment based on that," he said.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters holds the seat by just 62 votes, having seen his election-night majority slashed from 323.

National's candidate, Katherine O'Regan, is planning to lodge the application for a recount with the Tauranga District Court on Monday.

Counting under the supervision of a judge must begin with three days of the application being received.

An electoral petition before the High Court would be costly and lengthy. The petitioner must present evidence of irregularities to back the case for the result to be overturned.

"You've got to be pretty serious to take an electoral petition because you incur such huge costs," said Mr Slater. "You also have to have more than reasonable evidence to present to the High Court."

Mr Peters said in a statement that he welcomed the challenge. "Go ahead, make my day." He is still refusing to speak to most New Zealand media.

In fact, he put Australia first on his list, speaking only to ABC radio on Wednesday night, after the final result was declared.

His statement yesterday said he was attending a function with his Winebox counsel and friends.

Lead counsel was barrister Brian Henry, who acted for Mr Peters in his successful electoral petition to gain the Hunua seat six months after the 1978 election.

Mr Henry also acted in 1988 for newcomer Wyatt Creech when the High Court, acting on an electoral petition lodged with Mr Peters' help, awarded him the Wairarapa seat.

Mr Creech, now National's deputy leader, is coordinating the party's application for a recount in Tauranga.