A kaumatua, who leads a group opposing state-asset share sales says the Government's pre-registration figures do not prove New Zealanders are keen to buy shares.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 290,000 people had registered their interest in buying shares in Mighty River Power, although a few registrations appear to have been falsely submitted.
Meanwhile, a Keep Our Assets petition opposing the sale delivered to Parliament on Tuesday collected 392,000 signatures.
A signatory, Te Atiawa kaumatua, Peter Love, who heads the group, Say No to Asset Sales, doubts interest in buying shares is as popular as the Government makes out.
He says even though people have expressed their interest in buying shares, whether they can actually go and pay for the shares is another story.
The pre-registration phase is designed to help the Government gauge the level of public support to the partial share sales plan.
