A Tongan candidate who previously lost a local board race later marred by fraud allegations has staged a strong comeback, emerging as the leading vote‑getter in the Papatoetoe local board election re-run in Auckland, according to preliminary results.
Lehopoaome Vi Hausia, a Labour candidate of Tongan descent, secured the highest number of votes in the by-election after successfully petitioning for a judicial inquiry that uncovered irregularities in the previous poll.
His strong showing marks a notable shift from the 2025 election, when the Papatoetoe Ōtara Action Team won all four available seats.
Preliminary results show Hausia topped the vote with 2,788 votes, ahead of Jeet Singh of the Papatoetoe Ōtara Action Team, who received 2,484 votes.
Singh was followed closely by fellow team member Sandeep Saini on 2,479 votes, while Kushma Nair secured the fourth and final seat with 2,383 votes.
Another Papatoetoe Ōtara Action Team candidate, Kunal Bhalla, narrowly missed out after finishing fifth with 2,343 votes.
Although three members of the Action Team have retained seats, Vi Hausia’s first‑place finish breaks the group’s previous clean sweep, reshaping the local board’s makeup and underscoring the political impact of the fraud revelations that led to the election being overturned.
Final results are expected to be confirmed on Friday, after special votes are counted.
Election Voided Over Fraud Findings
The development follows a December court ruling that voided the Papatoetoe local board election after finding the result was likely affected by widespread voter fraud.
The decision came after Hausia petitioned the Manukau District Court to strike out the results of the contest to represent the Papatoetoe subdivision of the Ōtara‑Papatoetoe Local Board, citing alleged irregularities including claims of “nightly vote stealing” in the lead‑up to October’s local body elections.
The petition outlined six grounds for an inquiry, including what the petitioner described as statistical anomalies in turnout, alleged non-delivery or misuse of ballot papers, irregularities involving special and duplicate votes, discrepancies in voter records and alleged unlawful campaign activity.
It also questioned what the petitioner called systemic weaknesses in the postal model.
