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A global network tapped into 25,000 affluent and well-educated New Zealanders overseas says there are another half-million expatriates offshore who could vote in this year's election. The Kiwi Expat Association (Kea) - funded with a $250,000 Government grant in 2006 - helps businesses tap into New Zealand's global talent pool and extend international connections. It has members in 178 countries. Now the independent non-profit organisation is using its full-time regional managers based in Sydney, Shanghai, New York and London to run a global campaign - Every Vote Counts - to encourage voting by the several hundred thousand eligible New Zealanders overseas. "No-one knows exactly how many, but we estimate 500,000 - of whom only 28,000 voted in 2005," said Kea's manager of special projects, Nikitin Sallee, in Los Angeles. "That leaves hundreds of thousands of eligible voters missing". A paper produced by the Treasury estimates about 600,000 people born in New Zealand are now living overseas. Almost 400,000 expatriates live in Australia and a further 60,000 in Britain.
NZPA