KEY POINTS:
With five days to find the New Zealand entrant for the international Miss Universe contest, just 104 online votes separate the top two contestants.
Twenty four young women are in the running to represent New Zealand at the event won in 1983 by New Zealander Lorraine Downes.
Melissa Lowe from the Auckland region leads the contest on 661 votes over second-placed Amanda Hiroti, from Wanganui, on 557.
Miss Universe New Zealand wins a $15,000 package including a trip to the international competition, at a venue yet to be officially announced but reportedly in Mexico.
Elizabeth Grey, last year's Miss Universe New Zealand, was unplaced.
The contest will be decided at the Langham Hotel in Auckland on March 31.
- NZPA
