Kim Dotcom to start NZ political party, idea panned by PM

Internet tycoon Kim Dotcom has confirmed he plans to launch New Zealand political party to run an election campaign next year. But PM John Key has mocked the Megaupload founder’s desire to enter politics, saying it is a stunt to fight his extradition.

Prime Minister Key, who will be running for a third term in the 2014 general election, has suggested Kim Dotcom should name his party ‘the Nohope party’. 

"It's like everything we see from the guy, he wants to stay here to fight his extradition treaty, he's got some very good PR people, we'll see how it goes," he told local TV3. 

Dotcom responded on Twitter: "I don't have PR people. I'm just good at being myself. Try that Mr Key." 

Earlier Kim Dotcom, who is being sought by the US on charges of copyright infringement and money laundering, published a tweet suggesting he has plans to enter New Zealand’s political arena.

Despite the picture of the magazine suggests that Dotcom might become PM, in the interview to TorrentFreak he said that “it is impossible.” Being a German native, he has New Zealand residency, but not citizenship.

“I’m not a citizen of New Zealand and therefore I can’t be elected into parliament myself, but I can be the president of a new party,” Dotcom said in the interview on Sunday.

He assured that he had created a draft political program and is now looking for potential candidates willing to join him. There is no name for the new organization yet.

"Someone needs to lead New Zealand into the future," he said. "Unfortunately the current government doesn't know what the future looks like."

Under New Zealand's proportional voting system, the internet mogul needs to secure 5 percent of the vote to win representation in parliament. Once elected, Dotcom promised to get New Zealanders a new submarine cable, fair internet pricing and no more data caps. 

The party is to be launched on January 20, 2014, the day of the second anniversary of an armed police raid on Dotcom’s Auckland mansion, after which he was charged with online piracy in connection with his file sharing site Megaupload.

Kim Dotcom has been charged by the US with facilitating copyright fraud on a massive scale, racketeering, and money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail. On the anniversary of his arrest last January, Dotcom launched a new file-hosting site called ‘Mega.’ He is currently awaiting possible extradition proceedings in New Zealand. 

Both Kim Dotcom and PM John Key have been expressing hostility towards each other over the NSA-style bill the NZ government passed on August 21. While Dotcom has been a vocal critic of it, PM Key has been defending the law saying that it would give greater oversight and was "a strengthening of the previous legislation.” 

The bill was prompted by disclosures that the bureau had illegally spied on Dotcom.