Dean is standing to be a southern representative on the board of the New Zealand Rugby Union.
The union holds its annual meeting in Wellington today.
Dean was chairman of North Otago for 10 years before standing down earlier this month to concentrate his efforts on winning a place on the national union's board.
He will contest the vacant southern zone position and is up against former Canterbury Rugby Football Union chairman Stewart Mitchell.
Dean, a lawyer in Oamaru, is the husband of Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean.
NZRU chairman Mike Eagle is standing down as the southern representative as he has served the maximum three terms.
An appointments committee was set up by the national union and it has interviewed both Dean and Mitchell.
It is normal practice for the committee to recommend a board member to the annual meeting, but the minutes of today's meeting state no preference for either candidate.
Warren Prescott has taken over as NORFU chairman.
The annual meeting will also elect a northern zone representative and an independent board member to a nine member board.
The other southern zone representative is Graham Cooney, of Southland, who is not up for re-election.
Unions have voting numbers depending on how many senior teams they have.
