Sexting Scandal Involving Christchurch Community Board Candidate and 15-Year-old Forces Paul Findlay to Withdraw from Race

Sexting scandals have been destroying careers of politicians. First, there was New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner and Sydney Leathers.

Their version in New Zealand is Paul Findlay, the political party People's Choice bet in Hagley-Ferrymead, and a 15-year-old.

Mr Findlay was forced to withdraw from the election after the exchange of explicit messages and images between the two were posted on Friday morning in social media sites, particularly in the Whale Oil blog.

Mr Findlay released a statement, saying, "The city has bigger issues in this election than this incident. For the sake of my team and the sake of the real issues that Christchurch is facing, I am withdrawing my candidacy."

The screenshots of the conversations were posted online on WhaleOil Kiwiblog by Cameron Slater, who said he contacted Mr Findlay to confront the candidate. The screenshots showed that Mr Findlay continue to agree to the sexual acts even if the recipient stated being 18 only.

In response to Mr Findlay's action, People's Choice campaign manager Sara Epperson said, "We hold high expectations for our candidates and for the future of the city, and Mr Findlay sees his situation as a distraction from what we would like to achieve."

Mr Findlay has previously attempted to run for the community board in 2010 but lost with 5,554 votes.

He is single and childless.