The Pakuranga restaurant co-owner and former Howick College student will face Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in November
ACT has selected East Auckland restaurateur Ali Dahche as its candidate for the Botany electorate at the general election on 7 November.
“I wasn’t parachuted into Botany for an election,” Dahche said in a post to the East Auckland Open Grapevine community Facebook group on Tuesday.
He was named in ACT’s first tranche of 2026 electorate candidates on 31 May.
Dahche co-owns Porterhouse Grill, a restaurant in nearby Pakuranga, through his hospitality company AMG Hospitality.
His family came to New Zealand in 1995, and he went to Howick College before taking his first job at KFC Botany.
“I grew up here, went to school here, had my first job here, and built the foundations that shaped who I am today,” he said.
He moved overseas in 2005 to work in hospitality and facilities management in the United Arab Emirates, and returned to New Zealand at the end of 2022.
“I understand Botany because I have lived its journey from growing up here, to building a career overseas, to returning and investing my experience back into this community,” he said.
Dahche expresses pride in coming back to “the community that helped shape me” having served as a Somerville Intermediate School Board member and as a Rotarian with the Rotary Club of Howick.
“I’m standing for Botany because I believe our community deserves strong representation from someone who knows its people, understands its challenges, and believes in its potential,” he said.
Dahche stood for ACT at last year’s Auckland local elections, contesting both the Howick Ward council seat and a seat on the Howick Local Board’s Botany subdivision.
Botany is held by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who won the seat for National in 2020 and took 66.57 per cent of the electorate vote in 2023.
Luxon is standing in Botany again in November.
Labour has selected Dr Anae Neru Leavasa, a former MP for Takanini, to contest the seat.
