The newly merged Internet and Mana parties today promised that they would make the most of their alliance while it lasts, and farm an “enormous amount” of Reddit karma before the election is out.

At a press conference today to announce the merger, Mana Party leader Hone Harawira and Internet Party man-in-a-suit Vikram Kumar unveiled their joint party’s new name: Internet-Mana, which, in English, translates roughly to “Reddit-Karma.”

Harawira said he had spent a considerable amount of time explaining to his constituents what karma was, telling them it was a form of “internet mana,” a description that provided inspiration for the alliance’s name.

Constituents were told, prior to voting on it, that a deal with internet media mogul Kim Dotcom would bring them considerable amounts of this internet mana, which they were assured was “definitely something useful.”

“I’ll put it this way to you guys,” Harawira is reported to have said at a close-door meeting. “If it wasn’t useful, why would so many people spend so much time trying to acquire it?”

At today’s press conference, Kumar promised that any government that included the Internet-Mana Party would create a joint Reddit account for all of New Zealand, which would then seek to acquire massive amounts of both link and comment karma.

“As the first party that truly understands the internet, we believe we are uniquely positioned to manipulate Reddit users into upvoting things that contribute nothing to our national discourse,” said Kumar. “The content we have proposed using to achieve this goal includes fun selfies of Mr. Harawira and Mr. Dotcom, a pizza box with a funny personal message from the pizza outlet that we actually wrote on the box ourselves, and cat memes that have been posted hundreds of times before.”

Mr. Harawira today denied that the decision to merge with the Internet Party had anything to do with money.

Asked where he had suddenly acquired an expensive new BMW, a fur coat, and several Rolex watches that he was wearing all at once, both Harawira and Kumar answered simultaneously, but gave contradictory answers.

Kumar said Harawira had “always had those,” while Harawira claimed he had “nicked them.”

“I’m sorry,” said TVNZ political reporter Michael Parkin, “I didn’t quite catch that. Which one is it; did you always have them, or did you steal them?”

“Yes,” replied Harawira.

Asked if he was bothered by prominent activist Sue Bradford’s decision to leave the Mana Party over the merger, Harawira nervously looked to Kumar, who handed him a hundred dollar bill.

“Yes, I am,” he said, before being hit on the shoulder. “I mean, no.”