Editorial: Party stirs up interest

I don't know about you, but I'm booking a front row seat in front of my telly on September 20.

This year's general election is shaping up to be a real doozy.

The biggest wildcard is the newly formed Internet Mana Party. Just a few days ago, it was seen as a bizarre move for the Mana Party to align with controversial tycoon Kim Dotcom. Hone Harawira and his team have been widely criticised for "selling out" his people to a millionaire and perhaps rightly so - there's something very "non-Maori" about Dotcom and his background.

Now things have got just that little bit more interesting with the credible Laila Harre being named as the Internet Party's leader.

Harre, a well-respected left-wing politician, put through New Zealand's first paid parental leave law.

A Cabinet minister for the Alliance-Labour Government from 1999-2002, she has a wealth of political experience as a former Minister of Women's Affairs, Youth Affairs and Statistics and Associate Minister of Labour and of Commerce.

She's been out of the political game for several years but not out of the public eye, having had union-related roles. In 2012, she was employed by the Green Party after working for the International Labour Organisation in Fiji from 2010.

She says her reason for rejoining politics is out of concern for the number of young Kiwis who are no longer involved in the political process.

She believes the Internet Party has the ability to connect to that younger generation - and the fact that Dotcom isn't at all buddies with Prime Minister John Key has got to be another thing in common.

So while some of us may have initially queried the Mana Party's move, suddenly Harre's involvement has added a touch of credibility to their new political bedfellows.