Man hoped to stand in two electorates

Press, 20 June 1984, Page 3

Man hoped to stand in two electorates

A Christchurch candidate had hopes of standing in two electorates in next month’s General Election — until “The Press” informed him that it was illegal under the Electoral Act. The leader of the Citizens’ Democratic Party, Mr Geoff Bucknail, said yesterday that he intended to stand in both Yaldhurst and Tamaki, the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon’s electorate.

He thought that a candidate could stand in more than one electorate at a time. He had decided to contest Tamaki because “there was a general feeling that we were not too S leased about the fact that le election was brought forward.”

However, the chief electoral officer, Mr Peter Horne, said- from Wellington yesterday that no person was allowed to stand in more than one seat. According to section 36 of the Electoral Act, if any person

made more than one nomination, all their nominations would be declared null and void and they would lose their $lOO deposit. Mr Horne said that the case was “a little unusual.” When he was told of Mr Horne’s comment, Mr Bucknail said he would probably stand only in Yaldhurst.

The Citizens’ Democratic Party, which was formned in 1981, believes that import controls should be kept in place to ease unemployment and to keep down the overseas debt. At the last election, it had only one candidate, Mr Bucknail, who won 81 votes in Yaldhurst. This year the party intended to contest three Christchurch electorates — Yaldhurst, St Albans, and Sydenham. Mr Bucknall said that the St Albans candidate had decided not to stand so that the party could put more effort into Tamaki. The party’s Sydenham candidate is Mr Kevin Graham.