Quote Originally Posted by BlackPeter View Post
TOP's plan is to win Ilam - and take whatever party votes they get with them into parliament. While I still think they have an uphill battle to face, its in my view not hopeless. Raf Manji used to be Lianne Dalziels financial hand in the Christchurch City Council, and he is well known in the area.

https://www.top.org.nz/raf-manji
I think Brownlee was a problem in Ilam last time around, for the electorate vote to go to Labour. Ilam is usually about as safe a National seat as you can get. Labour currently hold the seat and will be desperate to retain it, and I foresee that National voters will vote for the new National candidate who has no baggage.
I just can’t see where Manji’s votes will come from in the above scenario, I can really only see him coming a distant third….unless left wing voters abandon Pallett en masse for Manji, in which case he may come second.