National complains as coalition partners back vote-splitting campaign

National has complained to the Electoral Commission about a campaign urging centre-right voters to split their votes, saying it tried to confuse voters days before the election. A National Party spokesperson called it a deliberate attempt to confuse voters in an already tight election and said the party referred the matter to the commission.

The Split Your Vote campaign, backed by businessman Harry Mowbray, encouraged voters to give their electorate vote to National and their party vote to ACT or New Zealand First. The goal was to force an overhang by having National win as many electorates as possible while ACT and NZ First increased their party-vote shares.

“If you want a National Government you need to make sure National is bigger than Labour. The only way to do that is to party vote National.”

ACT leader David Seymour confirmed his party gave permission for an advertisement linked to the campaign, saying ACT initially said no but later approved it on condition it would back ACT in the Epsom and Tāmaki electorates. Seymour is seeking re-election in Epsom, while James Christmas hopes to keep Tāmaki for ACT after Brooke van Velden's retirement.

A New Zealand First spokesperson said the party approved a separate advertisement by Reality Check Radio published in the New Zealand Herald that promoted the same overhang strategy. The broadcaster asked permission because the ad encouraged a party vote for New Zealand First, and the party gave approval despite having no involvement in creating the advertisement.

National leader Christopher Luxon said National did not support the campaign and warned voters that people were trying to confuse them by suggesting a vote for another party could help National. He said it was a very tight election and that the tactic risked creating confusion that could help Labour form a coalition government.

Newsroom described the final week as the most febrile since the days of the Exclusive Brethren, linking the vote-split push to Voices for Freedom, Hobson's Pledge, Reality Check Radio, and Harry Mowbray, whose siblings founded toy giant Zuru and are ranked among New Zealand's richest families with more than $20 billion.