Kim Dotcom's political version of New Zealand's Got Talent hits Auckland next week with his Internet Party holding candidate search events on Wednesday and Thursday followed by the grand final on Saturday.
The party said more than 140 of its members would vie for positions as candidates during preliminary selection meetings from May 24-29, including those in Auckland.
Meetings where candidates would be "put through their paces"are also being held in Hamilton, Wellington Christchurch and Dunedin.
Internet Party chief executive Vikram Kumar said a shortlist would then be decided, with successful applicants from the preliminary meetings advancing to a final national selection event – a Candidate Challenge open to the public – in Auckland on June 7.
“Our promise has always been to select our candidates to contest the election, as list or electorate candidates, directly from our membership. We expect to send up to 20 candidates to the final selection meeting on June 7 , with a view to establishing the order of a final list of 15-20 candidates based on feedback from our members using a smartphone app. It's internal democracy in action.”
The decision on final selection and ranking will be made by the Internet Party's Executive Committee which includes Mr Dotcom, Mr Kumar and Party Secretary Anna Sutherland after taking into account members' evaluations.
- By Adam Bennett of the New Zealand Herald
