In many ways, Mr. Kang reflects the amalgam of the multicultural immigrant experience. Born in a fishing village in Malaysian Borneo, he emigrated first to Australia, then to New Zealand as a student with his sister. After graduating with a degree in pharmacology, he worked as a life coach and a nutritionist, and he now has a beekeeping business. He married a white New Zealander, and their two children have Chinese middle and last names. Before he arrived in Australia, he said, he did not speak any English.

He first met Mr. Iti while working as a nutritionist, helping the Maori activist lose weight and become “half the man he was,” Mr. Kang joked.

This year, Mr. Kang casually broached to Mr. Iti the idea of joining the Maori Party. A week later, at Mr. Iti’s urging, he found himself in a candidate training workshop preparing for his first political campaign.

Mr. Iti’s support has been crucial to Mr. Kang’s candidacy. While Mr. Iti is a respected figure in the Maori community, others see him as a radical. In 2007, Mr. Iti was arrested in an antiterrorism raid and later convicted of illegal firearms possession.

“It’s always been on my bucket list,” Mr. Kang said of his entry into politics. But his lack of traditional experience has been apparent. Before an August debate that included Chinese representatives from the National, Labour and People’s Parties, his plan was to provoke his two opponents to “help them be better politicians.”

During the event, Mr. Kang ignored conventional debate structures. He directed questions at the crowd, confronted the assembled politicians about their governing records, and was chastised by moderators for speaking out of turn.