Intriguing contest for Waitakere

By ANNE BESTON

With two days to go, a new opinion poll shows the race to win the Waitakere seat could still be up in the air.

A ConsumerLink poll of 501 people, commissioned by the Engineers Union, was done over three days from last Saturday. It puts Labour's Lynne Pillay in front on 27.7 per cent with Alliance leader Laila Harre on 21.2 per cent. National's Marie Hasler is third with 19.8 per cent.

All three candidates will be hoping to pick up some of the 15 per cent of those polled who said they were either undecided or would not give a preference. The poll had a margin of error of 4.2 per cent.

As the political parties hit the campaign trail in the West Auckland seat yesterday, two political rivals faced off but there was no heat generated. Instead, the atmosphere was more like ice.

There was no detectable greeting between former Alliance leader, now Progressive Coalition leader Jim Anderton and new Alliance leader Laila Harre at a Henderson Grey Power meeting.

When Ms Harre was talking to members of the audience near a grim-faced Mr Anderton, he deliberately moved away.

Ms Harre said later she had greeted Mr Anderton but he ignored her.

Yesterday's poll was being compared with an earlier one that showed Ms Harre in front. The earlier poll was initially dismissed by Prime Minister Helen Clark because it was done by Ms Harre's husband, Dr Barry Gribben.

The latest one was commissioned by Ms Pillay's employer, the Engineers Union. Her husband, Mike Sweeney, is a top union official.

Ms Hasler said: "According to these 'expert and independent' polling organisations, their respective candidates are well out in front.

"They have, in effect, revolutionised statistics and destroyed polling credibility in one week."

Ms Pillay said she was pleased but not complacent about the results and not surprised that Ms Harre was in second place.

"She's been campaigning on splitting the vote and that was always my concern, but I am heartened. It's been a bit of an anxious week."

Ms Pillay said the Alliance had spread misinformation in Waitakere in saying she was guaranteed a place in Parliament because she was No 39 on Labour's list.

That was "rubbish", she said.

Ms Harre also claimed to be happy with the poll, despite its reversal of her own poll's findings.

"It's clear I'm in a position to win on Saturday.

"We have known for weeks we were getting a big shift towards me over the past three weeks."

Dr Gribben's poll gave Ms Harre 27.5 per cent, Ms Pillay 19.4 per cent and Ms Hasler 18.9 per cent .

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