Kim Dotcom, the Internet tycoon facing extradition to the U.S. on piracy charges, said his political party is on course to win more than 5 percent of the vote in New Zealand's general election by appealing to young and first-time voters.
The party's own polling currently shows it attracting 4.8 percent support, more than double its level in other polls, Dotcom said in an interview at a dance party in Wellington late on July 25. Unlike most surveys that sampled over landline phones, the party was also polling via mobile phones and the Internet, he said. "We are primarily popular in the Internet generation, they don't have landlines."
Dotcom, who has captivated New Zealand since police stormed his Auckland mansion more than two years ago, has clashed with Prime Minister John Key over spying laws and vowed to help eject his National Party from office. Dotcom founded the Internet Party this year and entered an alliance with the Mana Party to form Internet-Mana ahead of the Sept. 20 election.