Another candidate has apologised and renounced online comments which suggested drownings were connected to the effect of the vaccine, but he has been kept on as a candidate.
Act leader David Seymour said the party’s Rangitata candidate Elaine Naidu Franz, 29th on the list, had offered to stand down after 1News brought her previous comments to Seymour’s attention today.
Seymour said he accepted her offer on the spot.
“I think those comments are unacceptable and I’m glad that she’s chosen to step down voluntarily, it’s for the best for everybody.”
Act’s Waikato candidate Darren Gilchrist, 48th on the list, had apologised to Seymour over comments he’d made which included linking deaths caused by drowning to the Covid-19 vaccine.
Seymour said Gilchrist had disavowed those comments, saying they were made during a time of high tension in New Zealand concerning vaccination.
The party leader was still confident in Act’s candidate vetting process. He said it was impossible to check a candidate’s entire online history and noted how it was likely old online comments resurfacing would be a growing problem for New Zealand politics.
“At some point as a society, we have to deal with that,” he said.
Seymour said some people who had applied to be candidates were rejected due to historical comments they’d made. He couldn’t say whether those comments had been primarily Covid-related.
Act’s vetting process included asking candidates to check whether anything they’d done or said in the past could embarrass the party.
He wasn’t aware of any existing candidates on the party’s list that had identified comments relating to Covid-19 that could embarrass the party.
-By Adam Pearse
