Alliance poll has Harre leading in Waitakere

By BERNARD ORSMAN

The Alliance is throwing everything at the seat of Waitakere in the final week of the election campaign, including a poll that purports to show Alliance leader Laila Harre has a commanding lead.

The party released the poll yesterday to boost its only chance of returning to Parliament by winning Waitakere, a West Auckland seat. It is polling below 1 per cent nationally.

The tracking poll was carried out over five days last week and showed Ms Harre jumping from third place to first.

It was done when she had a high media profile on television and the Alliance was pushing the message that Labour candidate Lynne Pillay was assured of a seat in Parliament because of her place on the party list.

By Saturday, Ms Harre had 31.5 per cent of the electorate vote, ahead of National list MP Marie Hasler on 19.8 per cent and Ms Pillay on 15.3 per cent.

The final figures on Saturday had a margin of error of 7.4 per cent.

Labour leader Helen Clark said she thought the Alliance had made the poll up to get people to think Ms Harre had a chance.

Last night, two people who worked on the poll, Christina Roberts and Cathy Hayes, rejected the Prime Minister's claim.

Ms Pillay described the poll as a joke because it was done by Ms Harre's husband, Dr Barry Gribben.

A Labour poll early this month had Ms Pillay on 45 per cent, Ms Hasler on 35 per cent and Ms Harre on 7 per cent.

"They [the Alliance] know they haven't got any party support and they are in the death throes," Ms Pillay said.

There was no guarantee that her 39th place on the Labour list would get her into Parliament, she said.

But only a huge slump in support for Labour would keep her out of the House.

The latest Herald-DigiPoll snap survey showing 40 per cent support for Labour guarantees Ms Pillay a seat, regardless of the outcome of the race in Waitakere.

Ms Hasler said both Labour and the Alliance were forever trundling out bogus polls that were worthless, self-serving and ridiculously contradictory.

"I'm the only candidate who isn't prepared to bullshit the electorate."

Dr Gribben acknowledged there was a credibility question given to a poll done by the husband of a candidate. But he said it was carried out by his health research company, CBG, independently of the Alliance.

A poll done by Dr Gribben for Alliance president Matt McCarten at last year's local body election accurately found that John Banks had a big lead over Christine Fletcher in the Auckland mayoral race.

Ms Harre yesterday fired up the Alliance's 150-plus workers in Waitakere with a message that the final week was the most important of the campaign. "If we can continue this momentum and we are at the railway stations and the bus stops in the morning and in the RSAs at night there will be a strong, independent, co-operative coalition partner for Labour."

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