The New Conservative political party has rejected claims one of its members punched a resident while delivering brochures in New Brighton this afternoon.

 The claim was made by Julie Donaldson, who wrote in a Christchurch Community Facebook page that a man “around Sea Eagles Place and Leaver Terrace was handing out brochures for the New Conservative Party, who was very pushy with my partner while he was on his way to do after school pick up.”

In the post, Ms Donaldson says “unfortunately after disagreeing on political points of view, it ended up this guy punched my partner and was laying into him when he was knocked down on the ground all while our 4 year old daughter, who was just going to school with her dad to get her big sister from, watched. Didn’t get the memo on being kind and definitely not my kind of political party.”

New Conservative leader Leighton Baker says he’s been in touch with the “guy involved in the fracas” and says it was the other way around.

He says the man is a 76-year-old pensioner who was out doing pamphlet deliveries for the party.

Mr Baker says the man offered a flyer to a resident and asked if he knew about the party.

Mr Baker says in response, the resident started “yelling and screaming at the man calling him a racist” and then hit the New Conservative member, scattering his flyers all over the ground.

He says the 76-year-old was able to restrain the man, who continued to “smack our guy in the side of the head until help arrived.”

A police spokeswoman says police received a report of disorder on Leaver Terrace about 2.50pm.

She confirmed a physical altercation had taken place between two men, who then left the scene before police arrived.