Christian party hoping for miraculous election result

A small political party is praying for a miracle when tomorrow's polling booths close.

The New Zeal party, rebranded from the One Party, is based on Christian values and its leader and former Cabinet minister Alfred Ngaro says despite being a new party, their message is resonating with people.

“We're like the small brown paper bag right out of nowhere. Everyone’s saying, ‘who is this guy? What do they think that they're doing?’

“All the big parties, they've got all the history and heritage, all we have is that we've got heart to want to do good things for our country and our people.”

Polling suggests voter support is moving away from the two main parties, giving more power to smaller groups to influence who forms a government.

Ngaro says even though they are polling below the 5 per cent threshold needed to enter parliament, Kiwis are known for beating the odds.

“We’re the people that climb mountains when people said it couldn’t be done, we split atoms when people said, 'no, it’s impossible'.

“I’m proud of the team, proud of what we’ve done, but at the end of day, miracles only happen in one way and being Polynesian, we’ll only ever say this has been by God, and our faith resides in that so that’s why we’re stepping up, that’s why we’re standing up.”

Ngaro was the first person of Cook Island heritage elected to New Zealand Parliament, and served as the Minister for Pacific Peoples. He also has Polish Jewish heritage and has openly opposed the Hamas attacks on Israel.