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Kim Dotcom couldn’t make it to the kapa haka, but Mana had a party anyway this weekend, taking advantage of the large crowd present for the Te Arawa regional finals to announce its president Annette Sykes as its candidate for Waiariki.
Ms Sykes took a big chunk off incumbent MP Te Ururoa Flavell’s majority last election with only seven weeks campaigning.
This year she has had teams out canvassing since the start of the year.
The Internet Party founder had been booked to attend the competition with Ms Sykes and Mana leader Hone Harawira, but cancelled because of a family issue.
The parties are still discussing the terms of an alliance for the September election.
Ms Sykes says the two are already aligned on several important platforms, including free education for all, Internet freedom and privacy, and scrapping the Government Communications Security Bureau.
She says Mana’s leadership and Mr Dotcom both know what it is like to be illegally spied on by the state.
Copyright © 2014, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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