By Annabelle Tukia
It will be another 10 days before Christchurch Central residents know who will represent them in Parliament for the next three years.
That is because the two top polling candidates are locked in a dead heat, meaning the outcome will be decided on special votes.
But both are confident they will come out on top.
For Christchurch Central's sitting MP Brendon Burns, Saturday night's vote count literally could not have been any closer.
“To go from 12 ahead, having been trailing all night, and then to be a dead heat - 10943 votes each - I'm still lost for words.”
That is because Mr Burns finds himself locked in the electoral equivalent of a photo finish with National list MP Nicky Wagner.
And the MP who will get to represent the traditional Labour stronghold will be decided by 3717 special votes which are yet to be counted.
The Electoral Commission says as far as they know, it is the first time a dead heat has occurred before the specials.
Out in the electorate today, some voters were ruing their decision not to vote on Saturday.
Despite the deadlock both are confident the final result will swing in their favour.
“I'm really hopeful I think I deserve it,” says Ms Wagner.
Mr Burns says his hard work will pay off.
“I think they'll come our way because of the work I've done in the electorate.”
But they will have to wait to find out what the special voters, many of them displaced earthquake victims, decided themselves. The result is not expected for another 10 days.
3 News