UPDATED 6pm: Auckland Future candidates are staying tight lipped about Savea Peseta Al Harrington Lavea's sudden decision to pull out of the Auckland local body elections.

Lavea has come under fire after it emerged he has convictions for stealing the identities of seven dead children - which he used to obtain fake passports in the late 1990s.

Candidates and supporters are turning up at the Ponsonby Cruising Club for the campaign launch - but all questions are being fielded by board member and coordinator Sue Wood.

Wood said Lavea is stepping down because he wants to avoid distraction for the campaign, but they continue to support him.

"He's a community leader, he's served his community for 20 years, he's very highly respected, and I know that he will continue to serve his community in the future."

Wood said they were aware of his convictions when he was first selected.

Earlier this afternoon, Savea Peseta Al Harrington Lavea said: “I made a mistake 20 years ago and have paid for it. I have worked hard for my community and will continue to do so in the future. For the sake of Auckland Future and my fellow candidates I have decided not to contest the Whau Local Board seat in the Council elections.

“I will not be making any further comment.”

Brian Thrussel, the father of one of seven deceased children whose names Lavea used to obtain fake passports, told Newstalk ZB Lavea had never shown remorse.

Thrussell said the families that attended the trial never received any apology from Lavea.

"At no time did he either look anyone of us in the eye, never did he apologise...We were there in the same room, he had every opportunity to do that."

Thrussell said he first heard of Lavea's local board bid at midnight last night and had a message for voters.

"If I could, I would ask all parents to think very seriously about a man who could do this sort of thing to a child who lived for 26 hours before they vote for him."

Earlier, when Lavea was contacted for comment, the man who answered the phone said there's no reason to dig up dirt on Lavea.

Lavea - who is standing on a ticket to make the community "safe and prosperous" - was convicted along with his younger brother Romney Lavea of in 2008.

The pair admitted seven charges of forgery and another seven of using a forged document, relating to offences that stretched back to the late 1990s. Lavea, then a community advisor in Papatoetoe, was sentenced to six months' home detention and ordered to pay $5000 for reparation for emotional harm.

Now he is standing as candidate on the Auckland Future ticket for a seat on the Whau Local Board.

When contacted by the Herald on Sunday, Lavea yesterday initially confirmed he was standing in the elections.

But when asked if he was the same person convicted of stealing a dead child's identity he said: "Ah no, no I don't think so. What are you talking about?" He then hung up. A man answering the phone in later calls said he was not Lavea.

Auckland Future is running 40 candidates across the city including former rugby league legend Graham Lowe. Auckland Future co-ordinator Sue Wood said the group knew of Lavea's crime and accepted him anyway.

Newstalk ZB has been in touch with several Auckland Future candidates this morning, and none of them has been willing to give us a comment.

Wood said Lavea declared his conviction and a selection panel agreed he had reformed and was worthy of nomination.

"It was considered that given the number of years that have moved on and the extent to which he has been very heavily engaged in the community, and the scale of the offending 20 years ago, we weighed up and decided that that was behind him."

Wood said Lavea was heavily involved with Auckland's Pacific Island community and had made a huge contribution to that community.

"We are hugely impressed with his commitment to the community. He's worked very hard and he was duly nominated."

She said he was a well known broadcaster and entertainer and Auckland Future was reaching out to all ethnic communities across the city to take part in local body politics.

Wood stressed that every Auckland Future candidate had their credentials checked thoroughly through a rigorous selection process which involved three board members including herself interviewing every candidate.

"He wants to serve his community on his local board."

Lowe did not want to comment on his running mate's history last night.

On his Facebook page where Lavea promotes his candidacy, he says: "We no longer trust the big major parties because of their dishonesty and broken promises. Their sitting members on the current board have put their needs first before the community, causing chaos with the conflict of interest, bad governance and unaccountable for their actions and lack of transparency." Voting papers go out in early September, ahead of the elections on October 8.

Lavea is not the first political figure to be found guilty of identity theft. Former Act MP David Garrett resigned from Parliament in 2010 when it was revealed that 25 years earlier, he had obtained a passport in the name of a dead baby.