Act, NZ First approved ads warning against giving National the party vote

Act and New Zealand First gave approval for advertisements to run warning National supporters to split their vote and give their party vote to Act or NZ First, which is part of a campaign to increase the chances of a re-elected right-leaning government. 

Spokespeople from the two parties told the Herald they had given permission for ads in the name of former National and Act leader Don Brash, which ran in the Herald this week. 

The ads urge people who didn’t want to see a Labour-led government to avoid giving National their party vote, given the number of electorates National was expected to win could outweigh the share of the party vote National would receive. 

If National secured more electorates than its party vote entitled it to, the party’s extra seats would create an overhang, meaning the size of Parliament grows from its typical 120 seats. Coupled with larger party vote shares for Act and NZ First, the strategy proclaims to increase the odds the three parties can form a majority in the House. 

Te Pāti Māori is running a similar strategy by only campaigning for the party vote. With a good chance of retaining as many as four of the seven Māori seats and a party vote share as low as 0.1% according to one recent poll, it is possible the party could create an overhang of its own. 

An Act spokesperson claimed the party hadn’t been involved in organising the ad but confirmed the party had given permission to comply with electoral requirements. 

Act leader David Seymour said the party believed in free speech and would consider any future requests “depending on what they wanted to say”. He said he wasn’t aware of the party approving any other ads. 

Act Party leader David Seymour went on a walkabout in central Christchurch. Photo / Anna Heath 

NZ First leader Winston Peters has been vocal about the need for right-leaning voters to split their vote. 

A NZ First spokesperson said the party had been approached for permission. 

“We had no involvement in the creation of the advertisement but did give approval. 

“We welcome any third party who wants to promote the message that a party vote for New Zealand First is essential for a centre-right government returning.” 

National leader Christopher Luxon, who has previously dismissed the vote-splitting idea as “insanely stupid”, wouldn’t address his potential coalition partners’ approval of the ads when asked, repeating his plea for a greater party vote share to ensure more National MPs were around the Cabinet table. 

Luxon and National, including former leader Sir John Key, have spent weeks discouraging its own base from voting strategically amid a campaign from some on the political right arguing it meant a greater chance of avoiding a Labour-led government. 

Wealthy businessman Harry Mowbray, speaking to the Herald today, pointed to how Act and NZ First had approved Brash’s ads while his own “Split Your Vote” website went down after being investigated by the Electoral Commission. 

Harry Mowbray. 

A statement from the Electoral Commission said it had “looked into the matter” of Mowbray’s website and “whether it was authorised” but did not comment further. The website appeared to be offline. 

Mowbray, whose children Mat, Nick and Anna founded the toy company Zuru, told the Herald the commission had sent him a letter regarding his $35 website on October 1, although he said it was sent to the wrong address so didn’t receive it until later. 

“Because it’s on a webpage, it’s classified as an ad and when I spoke to them, shortly after I got the letter, they said, ‘That’s what the situation is’, and they said, ‘You’ve got to put a value on what it would cost for commercially to produce that webpage’, even though a friend made it for free for me. 

“We’ve transgressed, we’ve pulled the thing down. The whole process was one of trying to make sure that we didn’t breach the Electoral Act. 

“Where it goes to, I have got no idea, but it’ll just be a wait and see, I mean, I haven’t fed anybody Kentucky Fried and got them and filled their vote papers in for them yet.” 

Mowbray had also been caught out by not having a promoter statement from Act or NZ First. 

Mowbray alleged the complaint to the commission was filed by National, however, he acknowledged he had no evidence aside from how the letter to the commission was written. A National spokesperson said: “The National Party won’t be commenting on this story.” 

Mowbray had been a longtime critic of the MMP voting system, believing it placed too much power in the hands of minor parties and placed an undue level of importance on list seats over electorate seats. 

It was partly why Mowbray founded the Heartland Party ahead of the 2020 election, designed to contest National for rural electorates. The party was unsuccessful in winning the Port Waikato electorate, its candidate finishing third. 

Mowbray said he had previously spoken to former National leader Judith Collins and Luxon about whose votes National was campaigning for, arguing it risked deserting National’s base. 

“[Collins] said, ‘Harry, my focus is on the four-wheel-driving mother of two in Remuera’. 

“And then, I asked the same question to Chris Luxon when he was canvassing at the last election and he said, ‘Harry, my focus is on the solo mother with two kids in Hamilton West’.” 

Mowbray said he connected with former Act leader Brash, whom he described as a “mate”, and former National minister Maurice Williamson, who also encouraged vote-splitting. Mowbray also referenced discussions with Wellington property developer Vladimir Barbalich and Rhys Williams, better known by his social media name Holyhekatuiteka, who had ties with NZ First. 

“I decided that we’d get a whole lot of money together and put it out there so we had a function to do that and then all of a sudden realised that we couldn’t do that because of the electoral laws,” he said, saying it was later agreed they would promote vote-splitting as individuals. 

Mowbray claimed the idea had put him at odds with Seymour, who Mowbray described as being “really angry” when Mowbray, also a monthly donor to Act, first wrote publicly about the topic. Seymour dismissed Mowbray’s claim, saying his recollection was Mowbray’s opinion. 

Mowbray advocated for a system whereby greater emphasis was placed on winning electorates and a small proportion of list seats were allocated based which parties won more electorate votes. 

“That pushes it back into a situation where parties have to actually focus on electorates rather than on that very, very narrow band of basically female swing voters.” 

Mowbray said he hadn’t decided whether to restart his website after engaging with the commission. 

“We’ve got to sit down and the plan was to sit down this morning and actually work out the next week but the focus is on social media drive.” 

Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.