Rolls petition ?

Press, 6 November 1978, Page 7

Rolls petition ?

|PA New Plymouth! I Information being com-! ipiled by the Labour Party in! I New Plymouth may be used! I to promote a petition conIcerning the results of the General Election. Labour’s candidate for New Plymouth, Mr D. Duggan, has confirmed that a petition would be called for if electoral rolls continued to remain in a bad state and if polling-day results were close enough to warrant, the action. The sitting National member of Parliament, Mr A. P. D. Friedlander, said his organisation had no intention at this stage of calling for a petition. The Chief Electoral Officer had recently given an undertaking that the rolls would be in good shape for the election, and Mr Friedlander was relying on that assurance. Ralfbred and Corriedale sSuitpjmo pßaaqssojo sup jo

i! “As far as I'm concerned,] I anyone collecting information now for a petition isj i making excuses for a defeat in the election,” Mr Friedlander said. : Mr Duggan said his organisation was collecting the ■ information to ensure democracy was maintained. Labour had been canvass-] : ing the city because of the’ bad state of New Plymouth's! firoll. About 1600 prospective] voters had been found who] II were not on the roll. j On the voters’ behalf, the! •I party had filled in registra-i . |tion forms and sent them to | • the Post Office. At the same. l i'time the party had been 11 compiling its own register of! i I these people. i] Mr Duggan said that as I ; I voters’ names appeared on I fthe roll, or supplementary ■ I roll print-outs, the voters I /were being notified and their] names crossed off the party i iisidered and fined a total of] 1 1 register.