Labour's Naisi Chen must have been a little lonely over the past three years.
Since breaking into Parliament as a list MP in 2020, she has been the only lawmaker of Chinese origin to sit in the Beehive.
Now standing in the north Auckland electorate of East Coast Bays, Chen faces two-term lawmaker and National immigration spokesperson Erica Stanford.
East Coast Bays is as blue as it comes, with voters choosing National continuously since 1987 when Murray McCully scored a famous victory. Standford took over from McCully in 2017.
Based on current polling, Chen's list ranking of 33 doesn't inspire much confidence and she's very much in danger of becoming a one-term MP.
Chen's rivalry with Stanford goes back a few years.
Both Stanford and Chen began their political journeys in East Coast Bays in 2017, with the National candidate garnering 66 percent of the vote compared to Chen's unflattering 19 percent. The margin of victory was 16,290 votes.
Chen lost to National's Christopher Luxon in Botany in 2020 and was then overlooked in the candidacy for Auckland Central at this year's election. Labour instead selected Oscar Sims as candidate for the key electorate.
"It is like homecoming for me," she says. "I grew up on the North Shore. My parents started the first acupuncture clinic in Takapuna. All through my childhood, we had the Chinese clinic in the front and our residence at the back."
Naisi Chen is the Labour candidate for East Coast Bays on the northern fringe of Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Blessen Tom
According to the parliamentary profile of the "relatively wealthy" East Coast Bays, more than a quarter of households in the electorate earn over $150,000 per year (28.9 percent). For households living in a rental property, 42.5 percent pay more than $600 per week in rent - the highest proportion of any electorate.
East Coast Bays is very multicultural as well. More than half of the total population were born overseas (54.4 percent) - the second-highest proportion of any electorate.
Of those born overseas, 43.4 percent have arrived in the last 10 years. Less than two-thirds of the electorate's population identify as being European (61.8 percent), while those identifying as Asian make up over one-third of the population (34.5 percent).
The ethnic mix probably explains National's stronghold over the electorate, with surveys indicating that Chinese voters in the area typically prefer right-leaning parties.
However, Chen disagrees.
"This is not correct," she says. "I have been in party politics for over six years now. I was also involved in student politics before that, so I can say with some experience that there is a lot of support for the Labour Party in New Zealand's Chinese community.
"But I do agree that every political party needs to do more to bring more and more people from our ethnic communities into the mainstream."
David Wong, one of Chen's campaign managers who has been working with her since 2020, explains what the team has been doing since July to increase Labour's party vote on the North Shore.
"Every day we gather a team of around 10 people, with more on weekends, and divide ourselves into groups," he says. "Some do door-knocking and letterbox drops, some work on human hoardings, while some do phone banking."
Thankfully, Chen hasn't faced any personal abuse in the past few months while on the campaign trail.
"I know this is a very polarised election," she says. "But maybe because I am a local girl, and everyone here knows me and my family, people have been very kind to me."
Chen acknowledges that immigration - particularly the parents' residency visa and visitor visa - is a key area of concern for the Chinese community in this year's election.
However, she denies that Labour is responsible for sidestepping concerns.
"We were running a coalition government between 2017 and 2020 with Winston Peters, whose views on immigration are widely known," she says.
"In our second term, when we had a majority, borders had to close as we faced the pandemic," she says. "As normalcy has returned, we have promised a 10-year multiple-entry Super Visa for migrant parents and grandparents if Labour returns to power."
Labour’s East Coast Bays candidate Naisi Chen speaks to members of the electorate. Photo: RNZ / Blessen Tom
One issue Chen shied away from is the increased scrutiny Chinese candidates have faced in recent years, which has seemingly led to less people from the community putting their hands up for political roles.
She herself had been hurt in the past for being accused of having close connections with the Chinese Communist Party.
As reported by RNZ last month, the New Zealand political scene lacks strong Asian representation due to such factors as language barriers, incomparable political backgrounds, geopolitical influences and institutional discrimination.
"I don't think increased scrutiny is the main reason," she says. "Earlier there was Raymond Huo and Jian Yang. Now myself and (National candidate) Nancy (Lu) are there, so the number has remained the same.
"Limited understanding of New Zealand's political party membership and political framework plays a significant role in less representation in my opinion.
"We are very proud of our Chinese heritage and there is a great trade relationship between the two countries, so there are no issues there."
Whatever the reason, one thing seems certain.
While the next New Zealand Parliament is looking at comprising a large contingent of Indian-origin MPs, only one lawmaker of Chinese origin might make the cut - and it might not even be Chen.
Lu is ranked 20 on National party list and is set to become an MP based on current polling.
"I stand here today as the only MP of Chinese ethnicity, despite 5 percent of the population identifying with this ethnicity," Chen said in her maiden speech in Parliament in 2020. "I say that with regret. There are huge barriers for migrant communities in getting into politics. Our stories are often not told by ourselves. With my platform, I will fight to have our voices heard and fight against the racism that we experience.
"But the Chinese community needs to look within as well. The Chinese-language media is often selective in the information it portrays, and has demonstrated, sometimes, a slight misunderstanding in our country and our system. What gives me hope is that I'm the first 1.5 generation Chinese standing here in this House, and I can see a new tide coming in."
These days, it seems, the new tide she talked about will take some effort to materialise.
"I was always shoulder-tapped into leadership roles," she says. "Now, it's my turn to do the same and encourage more youngsters from our ethnic communities to come forward."
Stay up to date with Checkpoint's live election night special with Lisa Owen, Corin Dann, Jane Patterson and reporters around the country from 7pm to midnight on Saturday, running alongside live data and blogging with electorate and party vote results on RNZ's website. RNZ Asia will also be running its own live blog in Chinese.
实时更新报道， 尽在RNZ中文！ 本周六（10月14日大选日当天)下午5点起，以中文实时追踪2023年新西兰大选，各党票数、全国选情 、计票进展与最终结果，第一手资讯尽在 www.rnz.co.nz/chinese。 本周六，我们与您一同关注大选。
Then on Sunday, stay tuned for the Morning Report special from 8am to 10am, examining the results, the drama, and the changes from the night before: with polls this close, exactly who's in government will likely come down to negotiations.
