LYTTELTON SEAT

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30274, 29 October 1963, Page 14

LYTTELTON SEAT

No Communist Candidate

The Canterbury district of the Communist Party of New Zealand had decided to withdraw its candidate for Lyttelton (Mr J. Sturt) in the General Election, said the district secretary (Mr J. Locke) last night. Mr Locke said that it was felt that Mr Sturt’s withdrawal would help to expedite the defeat of the National Government and gain support for the Communist Party’s policy of opposition to the growth of monopoly interests in New Zealand.

The party, he said, had held discussions with representatives of the Labour movement and trade unions before wiithdTCwing its candidate.

L.*r Locke said that the policy of the party was to return Communist membera to Parliament. In electorates where no Communists were standing, its policy was to support the return of the Labour candidate.

AU persons and organisations, he said, who had approached the party’s committee had said quite clearly that they did not question the party’s equal and unfettered rights as a political party to stand where it chose, and thought that the party should have the full right to use radio facilities for the campaign. Mr Locke said that some persons and organisations had pointed out that, under a preferential system of voting such as existed in Australia, the situation where a party found it necessary to withdrew a candidate would not have arisen.