A Christchurch city councillor is standing by his decision to share a sexually suggestive post on social media encouraging people to enrol to vote.
The post shared on Halswell Ward councillor Andrei Moore’s Facebook page depicts the Electoral Commission’s “orange guy” mascot watching two other mascots engaging in a sex act.
The post states: “Don’t just sit back and watch. Be part of the action! Enrol to vote today!”
Moore captioned the post: “Tasteful thought-provoking artwork.”
The image was created by cartoonist Daniel Vernon, a freelance artist published on stuff.co.nz, The Spinoff and Re: News.
Moore says it was an “appropriate” image for a city councillor to share.
However, several social media users reacted with shock.
One commenter said: "Haha really pushing the boat out with this one."
Another person said posting the image was “a bold move”.
"I dont (sic) live in Halswell nor know any of your politics or policies but I would totally vote for you for this bold move right here."
Another commenter said: "Eww that’s maybe a bit much". While someone else felt it was "stooping low” and "gross”.
But most people found the post to be humorous. Moore denied the image was sexually suggestive.
“Not at all. It’s about enrolling to vote and not being left out or left on the sidelines,” he said.
He said the post was “something engaging that actually has caught some attention”.
When asked if he had considered children might see it, he said there was other content online that was far more explicit.
“Shortland Street has got stuff more inappropriate than that,” he said.
“I think it’s absolutely appropriate because it is a bit of fun. And we should be encouraging people to be enrolled so they don’t miss deadlines.
“And it should be stuff (messaging) that actually gets some attention.”
The post had received more than 100 comments and nearly 500 reactions.
Moore said it was “totally outrageous” to suggest anyone was offended by the image.
“People are offended by anything, so it’s not really worth worrying about,” he said.
“The issue of people being denied a vote next week is a legitimate one.
“Then the moment there’s one funny meme somewhere, we’ve got media saying ‘is it inappropriate, or sexually suggestive?’”
Moore posted the image to encourage people to get onto the election roll before the deadline to enrol closes at midnight on Sunday.
"We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of people whose vote potentially won’t be counted this year.”
The Government changed the Electoral Act last year to close enrolments 13 days before the election in a bid to speed up vote counts.
Previously, voters had been able to enrol on election day, turning their ballot into a special vote and delaying the final count.