Right-wingers ACT in NZ election scandal spotlight
Surging New Zealand right-wing party ACT has suffered a campaign setback, losing a candidate who compared COVID-19 vaccine mandates to actions taken in Nazi Germany.
David Seymour
ACT leader David Seymour said Elaine Naidu Franz, the party’s candidate for Rangitata, resigned on Wednesday after TVNZ enquired about her comments.
According to the TVNZ investigation, Ms Franz replied to a post by Mr Seymour last year with offensive comments.
“If you are wondering how the Nazis were able to come into power and do all the horrific things that they did, well you are looking at the start of the process right here,” she wrote.
“When can we expect those who are unvaccinated to start wearing armbands?
“When can we expect to see concentration camps and re-education camps?
“When can we start expecting to see troops on our streets rounding up people?”
Mr Seymour said Ms Franz – ranked 29 and without a realistic shot of entering parliament – offered to stand down and he accepted immediately.
Another wannabe MP, Waikato candidate Darren Gilchrist, shared anti-vaccine a conspiracy theory on social media by linking increased drownings to a rare vaccine side-effect.
He has kept his candidacy after renouncing the comments, including a reference to former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern as “Jabcinda”, and apologising.
Mr Seymour denied the party had done a poor job vetting candidates.
“There are some that have slipped through the net and they are now gone,” he said.
ACT have surged in recent years under the leadership of Mr Seymour – a 40-year-old policy wonk with a penchant for stunts, including an infamous appearance on Dancing With The Stars were he became synonymous with twerking.
As the party’s sole MP between 2014 and 2020, Mr Seymour was best known for his work supporting euthanasia reform, which passed at a 2020 referendum.
He was also the sole opposing voice to two of Dame Jacinda’s key re forms: the Zero Carbon Act, and gun reform following the Christchurch mosques massacre.
ACT jumped from 0.5 per cent of the vote in 2017 to 8 per cent in 2020, bringing a caucus of 10 MPs to parliament.
Now, ACT is polling between 11 and 15 and Mr Seymour could be joined by over 15 MPs following the October 14 election, positioning the party for cabinet roles in a coalition with centre-right party National.
However, the gaffe-prone Mr Seymour is battling another scandal: an ill-judged joke.
ACT has pledged to abolish demographic ministries – including the ministries for women, for Pacific Peoples and Maori development.
Mr Seymour told Newstalk ZB his fantasy to get rid of the Pacific Peoples ministry was “We’d send a guy called Guy Fawkes in there and it’d be all over”, a reference to the failed 1605 plot to blow up the English parliament.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has led condemnation of the joke, calling it dangerous, and in parliament, he sid ACT was “courting conspiracy theorists”.
“Thes e are the sorts of people who could end up making up a National-ACT government. They should be scrutinised,” he said.
Mr Seymour has refused to apologise for the joke, while likely coalition partner National is far from impressed.
“We don’t think those were very wise remarks,” deputy leader Nicola Willis said.
