By FRANCESCA MOLD political reporter
The Electoral Office has written to United Future asking the party to explain why it failed to alert the agency that candidate Kelly Chal was not a New Zealand citizen.
Chief Electoral Officer David Henry said yesterday that he had also sent a letter to Ms Chal
asking for her side of the story.
United Future announced the withdrawal of Ms Chal from its party list on Tuesday after Internal Affairs discovered the Indian-born Englishwoman did not have New Zealand citizenship and was therefore not eligible to stand for Parliament.
Internal Affairs had received an application for citizenship from Ms Chal last week and alerted the Electoral Office on Tuesday.
Internal Affairs would not confirm the date Ms Chal applied, or answer questions about whether she had tried to fast-track her application.
The revelation of Ms Chal's ineligibility came 48 hours before electoral officials were due to formally allocate list seats in Parliament.
It is understood that if that had happened and Ms Chal had been sworn in as an MP, it would have been difficult to remove her from the position. She would either have had to resign or be challenged through an election petition, which can be brought by a voter or candidate and which is heard by three High Court judges.
United Future closed the shutters on the embarrassing incident yesterday, refusing to talk to the media, saying the issue was sub judice.
A spokesman said the party had been advised by its lawyers not to discuss the issue.
Party leader Peter Dunne had earlier told National Radio that an internal inquiry was underway. He repeated his criticism of the Electoral Office for failing to pick up the question of Ms Chal's citizenship from her nomination form lodged on July 1.
But Mr Henry said his office was entitled to rely on the information supplied by the party. Ms Chal had declared that she was eligible to stand, supported by a statement sworn under oath by the party's secretary. He also said that candidate handbooks, supplied by his office, made the rules of eligibility clear.
