Death Threats and Local Government

Revealed today was the news that an unnamed candidate for a local government seat is facing a private prosecution for making two death threats in 1996. We don't know who he is because his name has been suppressed and the case won't come to trial until after the elections.

The list of possible suspects can be whittled down. Since Gary Moore has urged the defendant to either come clean or withdraw from the race, I get the impression that the mayor believes the candidate has a good chance of becoming elected. The long delay between the incidents and the private prosecution indicates that the defendant wasn't running in the previous local body election. Likewise the information that the dispute was business related rules out quite a few people such as the mayoral suspects Sam Kingi (anti-capitalist) and Kyle Chapman (too thick).

However the case itself seems fairly trivial as the police have already investigated the complaint and declined to prosecute. Furthermore if the circumstances were so bad, then why is the private prosecution being launched now and not in 1996? It seems to me to be dirty tricks more than anything else.