A fourth ACT candidate has resigned, the party has confirmed.
Scott Boness, who was set to contest the Auckland Central electorate, joins three other ACT candidate resignations.
The other three all came under fire for social media posts, including one - revealed by 1News - that compared vaccine mandates to Nazi concentration camps.
The candidate in that case, Elaine Naidu Franz, stood down from the Rangitata candidacy after 1News brought her posts to the attention of ACT to request comment. At the time, leader David Seymour said he found the post "unacceptable" and "a little unfair".
Today, when approached about Boness' candidacy, a party spokesperson said: "Scott Boness withdrew as Auckland Central candidate on 7 August."
The ACT leader saw red when he was asked about his Waikato candidate Darren Gilchrist. (Source: 1News)
It follows a Newsroom report which said Boness stood in the seat for three weeks, did little campaigning, resigned, and was replaced by 2020 candidate and former Young ACT president Felix Poole.
The report said ACT's Waikato candidate Darren Gilchrist had also stood down citing personal reasons. That followed 1News' revelation at the end of August Gilchrist had apologised for comments on social media suggesting drowning victims had died due to the Covid-19 vaccine.
On the Telegram app, Gilchrist had posted: "Well over 40 drownings this summer so far. Given the jab side effects of myocarditis/heart attacks, and blood clotting, I'm thinking there is a likely link to jabs."
Speaking to 1News at the time, he said he no longer held those views and was "just asking questions".
Kaipara ki Mahurangi candidate Anto Coates also quit in July for personal reasons, Seymour said in August.
Coates posted parody songs online including one that referred to former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern thinking about throwing people in a gulag - a Soviet forced labour camp where about 1.6 million people died.
When this was put to Seymour in August, he said he was "happy" Coates was no longer a candidate.
According to the Newsroom report, ACT media spokesperson Matt Ball said some candidates changed their minds about their candidacy.
Asked why candidates seemed to be walking away from ACT, Ball said the party was "still growing".
Boness would not give Newsroom a reason for his withdrawal, saying he wanted to wait until “the other side” of the election.
ACT's Mark Cameron, a dairy farmer turned politician and ranked at number seven on the list for this year’s election, also came under fire at the end of August for social media posts saying global warming was a "farce" and only "nutjobs" believed in it.
He had also referred to a Green MP as "dumb" and tweeted about political leaders being part of a globalist conspiracy, a term linked to anti-Jewish commentary.
Both Seymour and Cameron said Cameron no longer held those views.
“I made stupid remarks as an individual that I don’t believe to be true," Cameron said.
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