The National Party has stepped in to help United Future, saying it will only campaign for the party vote in the Wellington seat of Ohariu at the election.
United Future leader Peter Dunne's grip on his once-safe Ohariu seat is under threat with strong support for National's candidate, Katrina Shanks, and challenges from other candidates.
[image:1910:third:right]Ms Shanks, who is currently ranked 55 on National's list, said on Friday morning she intended to campaign hard for the seat.
But on Friday afternoon the National Party released a statement saying it would be running a strong party vote campaign in the electorate, with the aim of returning another John Key-led Government.
The statement includes a comment from Ms Shanks backing that view.
Party president Peter Goodfellow says getting Ms Shanks to campaign for the party vote is consistent with what happened at the last election.
Mr Goodfellow says in 2008 Ms Shanks campaigned for party votes, not electorate votes, to increase the chances of returning a John Key-led Government.
Like Epsom arrangement
The National Party has a similar arrangement in Epsom, to make it easier for the ACT party to be returned to Parliament.
National will campaign only for the party vote, to clear the way for ACT's John Banks to win the electorate seat.
With both ACT and United Future polling below the 5% threshold, winning a seat is another way of ensuring their return to Parliament.
Labour and the Greens say Mr Dunne's comments show he's clearly in trouble in Ohariu.
Mr Dunne's majority has dwindled from 12,500 in 2002 to 1,000 in the last election.
Radio New Zealand's Parliamentary chief reporter says United Future consistently struggles to top 1% in the polls, so Mr Dunne must win Ohariu to return the party to Parliament.
