The Mt Roskill by-elections ended on Saturday, December 3, as Michael Wood retained the long-standing Labour seat for the constituency. Roshan Nauhria, who started New Zealand People’s Party (NZPP) a few months back, was able to collect only 709 votes at the election.
Although the numbers were significantly low for Mr Nauhria, far below his closest contestants Mr Wood and Dr Parmjeet Parmar, the party leader is undeterred and confident for the general elections in 2017.
Mr Nauhria announced his candidature for the Mt Roskill seat on October 9—the day Phil Goff won the Auckland Mayoral elections. From the day it was formed, NZPP focussed its campaign on addressing law and order and the rising crime against ethnic migrants in the constituency. It is largely believed that Mr Nauhria secured his votes from the ethnic migrants in the electorate
On days leading up to the election results, Mr Nauhria was seen distributing newsletters and pamphlets outside Lotus Supermarket on Stoddard Road, Veggie stores on Carr Road and on the Royal Oak roundabout a day before the election.
“We were expecting a lot more vote, but it did not happen,” Mr Nauhria told Indian Weekender.
Talking about the reason behind not securing enough votes, Mr Nauhria said, “Maybe I am not much experienced [or] did not do the right campaigning. Perhaps we could not get the message across to the community.”
Mr Nauhria confirmed that he would definitely run for the general elections and with a better and stronger planning.
Labour’s Michael Wood received 11,170 votes followed by Dr Parmar with 4,652 votes from a total of 16,857 votes received in the by-elections.
“I am surprised that Michael won with such a huge majority,” Mr Nauhria said.
He conceded his defeat congratulating Mr Wood, and he added, “I didn’t think Dr Parmar could have won. Next year we will have better strategies to connect more with the community in Mt Roskill.”