Harry Duynhoven

Wellington, Nov 21 NZPA - National's Jonathan Young has pipped long-serving Labour MP Harry Duynhoven by the slimmest of margins, a newspaper has reported.

Mr Young -- a son of former Muldoon-era Cabinet minister Venn Young -- held a 314-vote lead over Mr Duynhoven on election night, but his rival refused to concede ahead of the counting of 2600 special votes.

Final official results are due to be released at 2pm tomorrow by the Chief Electoral Office, but the Taranaki Daily News today reported the result would show Mr Young had won by about 100 votes.

Neither candidate was aware of that when approached for comment.

If the result is confirmed tomorrow it will be the end of a long parliamentary career for former minister Mr Duynhoven, who elected not to seek a place on Labour's list.

Mr Duynhoven won the seat in 2005 with a 5400 majority.