Dotcom owns up: my name was 'poison'

In the wake of his failure to make a dent in New Zealand politics, Kim Dotcom has said his name alone spoiled the chances for the alliance of the Internet Party and the Mana Movement.

The result was truly dismal: the Internet Party failed to secure a seat, and Mana's leader Hone Harawira lost his seat, as New Zealand's conservative National Party led by Dotcom's arch-enemy John Key swept back into power with 48.1 per cent of the vote.

Conceding the defeat, Doctom said “We lost tonight, but we did not lose because of our leadership – we had great leadership. We did not lose because of our campaign – we had a great campaign, and we did not lose because of our vision, because we had a great vision. I have to admit that we lost because of me.”

He also apologised to Maoris, saying they had lost a voice in parliament because of him.

Dotcom's “big reveal” late in the campaign, for which he flew Glenn Greenwald in to support his accusations of mass spying on Kiwis, but his thunder was stolen by the New Zealand Herald.

Ahead of Dotcom's town hall meeting last week, the Herald ran what was to be the centrepiece of his claim: that Hollywood had persuaded Key's government to support Dotcom's bid for NZ residency in spite of his prior convictions. With the e-mail already denounced as a fake before his public meeting, much of the sting was lost.

Dotcom has now hinted at a withdrawal from the Internet Party he originally funded with millions of his own money. ®