Auckland Council's only Chinese councillor Paul Young launches a campaign urging Chinese voters to "vote for ourselves". Photo / Supplied.
Auckland Council's only Chinese councillor Paul Young launches a campaign urging Chinese voters to "vote for ourselves". Photo / Supplied.
Auckland's first Chinese councillor Paul Young, whose campaign was plagued with racist attacks, is launching a campaign to get Asians voting in future elections.
Young, who retained his Howick seat with more than 16,000 votes, believed nearly half came from about 40 per cent of eligible Chinese voters in the ward who voted.
"I am using myself as an example to encourage Chinese and other Asian voters, that if they voted, they could get the representation they want," Young said.
The campaign, which he is calling C50 targeting the Chinese and I50 for Indian voters, involved awareness events and seminars across the country.
Auckland Councillor Paul Young filed a police report after someone fired 10 shots into a poster of his face. Photo / Supplied.
Young said he will be going around, urging Asian voters to "vote for ourselves".
"The voting rate is about 35 per cent in Auckland and I believe the Chinese voting rate is about 30 per cent, but with the campaign, I want to bring it up to 50 per cent.
"Many in the Chinese communities come from countries where there is no such thing as voting, and winning Howick not once, but twice, is my way of showing them that their vote makes a difference."
Young has been a target of racist attacks during his recent campaign for Howick and a seat on the Counties Manukau District Health Board, which he also won.
More than half of his election signs had been damaged or tagged with the letters "CCP" referencing the Communist Party of China.
Earlier this month, a business displaying support for Young was also vandalised and fliers with a racist message left at local supermarkets.
Young also filed a police report after someone fired 10 shots into a poster of his face on October 11.
Young arrived from Taiwan aged 25 in 1989, and in the past nine years had stood in general and local elections a total of seven times.
He said the campaign would be taken across the country, and not just meant for East Auckland.
"Interestingly, there are seven Chinese elected local board members this time, including two new ones, which I believe is because of an increase in Chinese votes.
"If Asians want more elected representatives in Parliament, then my message to them is to get out and vote."
Researcher Andrew Zhu said Chinese voters contributed greatly to Paul Young's victory in the Howick Ward. Photo / Doug Sherring.
Researcher Andrew Zhu, director of independent research company Trace Research, said the campaign was timely.
"Eligible Chinese voters in Howick Ward number around 20,000 and I believe they contributed significantly to Paul's victory."
Zhu said his ongoing study was showing dissatisfaction among Chinese voters to the performance of the current Government and the economy.
"I would say Paul's campaign would be a wake up call and also create a greater awareness to this segment of voters that the only way to change the government in the New Zealand system is through using the power of the vote."
A World TV-Trace Research Chinese voter poll conducted before the 2017 election found voters in the community highly favoured National.
About 71.1 per cent said they would vote for National, with just 21.6 per cent supporting Labour and 2.4 per cent for both NZ First and Act.
That validity of the poll, however, was questioned at the time by Labour MP Raymond Huo, who said it "may not be robust enough to prevent it from some systemic abuse".
