Official Results For By-Election Now In

The Chief Electoral Office has announced the official results for the Te Tai Hauauru by-election and has confirmed Tariana Turia as the winner. Mrs Turia received 7256 votes, or over 92% of the votes cast. “We have re-checked the preliminary results announced on election night and have then counted valid special declaration votes to produce the official results,” the Chief Electoral Officer, David Henry, said tonight.

“1096 special declaration votes were received but more than 60% had to be disallowed because the voters were not enrolled for Te Tai Hauauru. Most of these people were enrolled in another electorate,” he said.

“A high proportion of special votes disallowed is not unusual in a by-election,” Mr Henry said. “At the last by-election (Taranaki-King Country in 1998), 54% of special votes were disallowed.”

Turnout at the by-election was 33% (32.87%) of people enrolled.

The official results will be formally declared in the NZ Gazette on Wednesday 21 July and the writ returned to Parliament the same day.

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

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