Cunliffe warned by Police

Stuff reports:

Labour leader David Cunliffe has been warned by police over a message he posted on Twitter on November 30, the day of the Christchurch East by-election.

Cunliffe’s tweet urged residents to vote for Labour candidate Poto Williams, breaching electoral laws which ban any campaigning on election day.

“If you are resident in Christchurch East don’t forget to vote today – for Labour and Poto Williams!” Cunliffe wrote.

The Electoral Commission referred the tweet to police, with Cunliffe revealing today he had been warned.

“It was an inadvertent mistake which I regret. I took steps to rectify the error by immediately deleting the tweet and Labour also notified the returning officer as soon as possible,” he said.

“I have taken the warning on board and will not repeat the error.”

Still incredible that a party leader could think it is okay to tweet “Vote for Labour” on an election day.