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Maori Party MP Pita Sharples is keen for retired boxer David Tua to give the party some extra punch.
The Samoan met party officials this week to discuss the prospects of standing in next year’s election.
He had voiced support for the party’s work during a televison interviewed during last month’s Maori Sports Awards.
Dr Sharples says the party has long courted the Pacific Island list vote.
"Their issues are almost identical to our issues and we should be working together as one party, and they agree with that and they start off in this vein, and then suddenly they decide no, let’s do our own thing, and good on them too but it doesn’t hold up, they don’t sustain the numbers to get a person in under a Pacific Island ticket. There’s hope that we can ultimately work together because a lot of our issues are the same and what better than to have David as a candidate, " he says.
Dr Sharples says Mr Tua, who stepped down from the ring after last month’s unanimous points loss against Belarusian giant Alexander Ustinov, is a real people person who will add great value to the party.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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