Political parties in New Zealand: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)
New Zealand has a strong party system in place. Usually, all members of parliament belong to a political party, although there is presently one MP who became an independent after being expelled from her party. Independent MPs are relatively rare. Unlike some democracies, New Zealand does not have an entrenched two-party arrangement - while there are indeed two primary parties, smaller groups can reasonably expect to play a role in government. There are presently eight parties in parliament.
History
Political parties in New Zealand evolved at the end of the 19th century. Most historians regard the Liberal Party, which began its rule in 1891, as the first real party in New Zealand politics. During the long period of Liberal Party control, the party's more conservative opponents created the Reform Party, forming the original duopoly in the New Zealand parliament.
Gradually, Liberal and Reform found themselves working together more often, mostly in opposition to the growing Labour Party. After Labour eventually won office in 1935, the Liberals and Reform came together to form the National Party. Labour and National currently exist as the two main parties of New Zealand politics.
Over the years, a number of "third parties" developed - Social Credit Party, the New Zealand Party, the Values Party, and the Alliance being the most notable. However, the electoral system meant that no matter how popular a party was nationally, it could not win seats without a majority in a particular voting district. As such, these parties performed poorly.
With the introduction of the MMP electoral system at the 1996 elections, however, it became much easier for smaller parties to enter parliament. Since the change to MMP, there have always been significant numbers of MPs representing parties other than Labour and National.
Registration of Parties
Political parties in New Zealand can be either registered or unregistered. To be registered, parties must have five hundred paying members who are eligible to vote in general elections. If a party is registered, it may submit a party list, enabling it to receive party votes in New Zealand's MMP electoral system. Unregistered parties may still nominate candidates for individual electorates, however.
Parties Currently in Parliament
The order in which parties are listed corresponds to the number of MPs they currently have.
| Party | Leader | Description | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Party | Helen Clark | A centre-left, socially progressive party. It is currently the largest party in parliament, and is the dominant party in the governing coalition. Its leader serves as the current Prime Minister. | 51 |
| National Party | Don Brash | A centre-right, mildly conservative party. It is the second largest party in parliament, and has traditionally Labour's main opponent, but suffered a considerable defeat in the most recent elections. | 27 |
| New Zealand First | Winston Peters | A centrist, populist, and (arguably) nationalist party, presently focused on opposing immigration, campaigning for harsher sentences for crime, and reducing payments related to the Treaty of Waitangi settlements process. | 13 |
| Green Party | Jeanette Fitzsimons and Rod Donald |
A left-leaning environmentalist party. In recent times, its most notable campaign has been against genetic engineering. It also promotes highly progressive social policies. | 9 |
| ACT | Rodney Hide | A party that promotes free market economics and campaigns against high government expenditure. Recently, it has also begun to focus on its policies of increasing punishments for crime. | 8 |
| United Future | Peter Dunne | A centrist or centre-right party which describes itself as based around "common sense". It has a particular focus on policies concerning the family and social issues. | 8 |
| Progressive Party | Jim Anderton | A left-wing party with a particular focus on job creation and regional development. It is the junior partner in Labour's coalition government, with its leader serving as a cabinet minister. | 2 |
| Maori Party | Tariana Turia | A party based around New Zealand's Maori minority. It was formed in 2004 by Tariana Turia, a former minister of the Labour Party. It promotes what it sees as the rights and interests of Maori. | 1 |
There is also one independent MP in parliament: Donna Awatere Huata, a former member of ACT who was ejected from the party over allegations of fraud. If she is found guilty of the charges against her, she will be removed from parliament, and her seat will probably revert to ACT.
Registered Parties Outside of Parliament
Parties are listed in alphabetical order.
| Party | Leader | Description |
| The Alliance | Matt McCarten | A left-wing party supporting the welfare state, free education, environmental protection, and Maori interests. The Progressive Party (see above) was formed when Jim Anderton, former leader of the Alliance, left. |
| Christian Heritage NZ | Ewan McQueen | A party based around Christian conservative values. It supports policies to strengthen marriage, and opposes abortion and same-sex unions. |
| Democratic Party | Stephnie de Ruyter | A party based around the idea of Social Credit. The party was once a member of the Alliance (see above), and is one of the older parties in New Zealand. It was formerly known simply as the Social Credit Party. |
| Destiny New Zealand | Richard Lewis | A party based around the Destiny Church, a Christian religious organization. The party does not stress its association with this particular church, however, and attempts to appeal to Christians of any denomination as long as they are devout. |
| Legalise Cannabis Party | Michael Appleby | A party which (as its name suggests) supports the legalisation of cannabis. This remains the core of its platform, although it also comments on other issues that it considers related. |
| Libertarianz | Russell Watkins | A libertarian party dedicated to keeping government as small as possible and maximising freedoms. |
| Mana Maori Movement | Angeline Greensill and Ken Mair |
A party based around New Zealand's indigenous Maori inhabitants. As of the last election, the Te Tawharau party was working under the Mana Maori Movement banner. |
| Mana Motuhake | Willie Jackson | A Maori-based party that was once a part of the Alliance (see above). It advocates on a wide range of issues related to Maori. |
| One New Zealand Party | Alan McCulloch | A small party based on Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party in Australia. It opposes all special policies towards Maori. |
| Outdoor Recreation NZ | Lester Roy Phelps | A party dedicated to promoting the interests of the hunting, fishing, and shooting communities. Outdoor Recreation New Zealand has agreed to contest the 2005 election under the banner of the United Future party, although the parties will not actually merge. |
See also: Socialism in New Zealand
Historical Parties
| Party | From - To | Description |
| Christian Coalition | 1996 - 1997 | A brief alliance of the Christian Democrats and the Christian Heritage Party. It narrowly missed entering parliament in the 1996 election, and disbanded shortly afterwards. |
| Christian Democrats | 1995 - 1999 | A Christian party established by sitting National MP Graeme Lee. After briefly establishing the Christian Coalition (see above) with another party, the Christian Democrats secularised themselves, adopting the name Future New Zealand. Future New Zealand merged with United (see below) to form United Future New Zealand. |
| Communist Party | 1929 - 1994 | Probably New Zealand's most prominent and long-lived communist organization. The party generally pursued hard-line doctrines, successively following Stalin's Soviet Union, Mao Zedong's China, and Enver Hoxha's Albania. In 1993, the party finally moderated its stance, adopting Trotskyism. It later merged with another party to form the modern Socialist Workers Organization. |
| Liberal Party | 1891 - 1936 | New Zealand's first real political party. It provided the country with a number of prominent Prime Ministers, including John Ballance and Richard Seddon. With much of its traditional support undercut by the growing Labour Party, it eventually merged with the Reform Party (see below) to form the modern National Party. |
| Mana Wahine Te Ira Tangata | 1998 - 2001 | A short-lived Maori feminist party established by Alliance defector Alamein Kopu. The party contested only one general election before vanishing. |
| Mauri Pacific | 1999 - 2001 | A party established by several New Zealand First MPs. It was founded shortly after the coalition between New Zealand First and the National Party broke down. Mauri Pacific remained allied to the government, giving it cruicial support, but none of the party's MPs were re-elected in the 1999 elections. |
| McGillicuddy Serious Party | ? - 1999 | A joke party intended to satirize politics in general. Among other deliberately absurd policies was the "Great Leap Backwards", a project to reverse the industrial revolution and reestablish a medieval way of life. |
| NewLabour Party | 1989 - 1991 | A left-wing party established by former Labour MP Jim Anderton. It contested one election before joining with several other parties to establish the Alliance. |
| New Zealand Party | 1983 - 1986 | A party established by property tycoon Bob Jones to promote free market economic policies and liberal social policies. It gained twelve percent of the vote in its first election, but then vanished almost completely. Some consider the modern ACT party to be the New Zealand Party's ideological successor, although this view is not universally accepted. |
| Progressive Green Party | ? - ? | An environmentalist party established in opposition to the generally left-wing policies of the larger Green Party. It contested only one election before vanishing, although many of its members are currently active in the National Party. |
| Reform Party | 1909 - 1936 | New Zealand's second real political party, having been established as a more conservative opponent to the Liberal Party. Its most prominent leader was William Massey. It eventually merged with its former rival, the Liberal Party, and established the modern National Party. |
| Socialist Unity Party | 1966 - ? | A splinter group of the Communist Party (see above). It was established by Communist Party members who rejected their party's decision to take China's side in the Sino-Soviet split. The Socialist Unity Party became one of the more prominent communist parties in New Zealand. |
| United Party | 1995 - 2000 | A centrist party established by moderate MPs from both National and Labour. The party was not successful, with only one of the seven founding MPs managing to remain in parliament. United later merged with the Future New Zealand party to form the modern United Future New Zealand. |
| Values Party | 1972 - 1990 | Sometimes called the world's first national-level green party. Elements of the Values Party eventually went into the creation of the modern Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand. |
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