MEDIA RELEASE

Wednesday 15 October 2008
Chief Electoral Office
Ministry of Justice

Chief Electoral Office Releases Full List Of Parties And Candidates For 2008 Election

The Chief Electoral Office has released the nominations for the 2008 General Election, with 19 registered political parties and 681 candidates contesting the election.

Registered Parties Seeking the Party Vote

Six parties, RAM - Residents Action Movement, The Bill and Ben Party, Family Party, Kiwi Party, The New Zealand Pacific Party and The Workers Party are seeking the party vote for the first time.

The registered parties seeking the party vote are:
• ACT New Zealand
• Alliance
• Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party
• Democrats for Social Credit
• Family Party
• Green Party
• Jim Anderton's Progressive
• Kiwi Party
• Labour Party
• Libertarianz
• Māori Party
• National Party
• New Zealand First Party
• New Zealand Pacific Party
• RAM - Residents Action Movement
• The Bill and Ben Party
• The Republic of New Zealand Party
• United Future
• Workers Party

There were 19 registered political parties seeking the party vote in 2005.

Candidates

A total of 681 candidates (electorate and list) are standing in this year's election. This compares with 739 candidates in the 2005 election.

160 candidates are on the party list only and 88 are standing as electorate candidates only. 35 electorate candidates are standing as independents or representing unregistered parties (only registered parties are eligible to contest the party vote).

The electorate with the most candidates is Wellington Central with 14, and the electorates with the lowest number of candidates are Hauraki-Waikato, Waiariki and Te Tai Hauäuru with two per electorate.

488 men and 193 women are standing in the 2008 General Election.

The elections website www.elections.org.nz has a full list of electorate candidates www.elections.org.nz/voting/voting-info and the party lists www.elections.org.nz/voting/candidates-and-parties/party-lists.

Attached is the number of list candidates and the number of electorate candidates representing those parties seeking the party vote.

--

Party / Number of Candidates / List Candidates / Electorate Candidates
ACT New Zealand / 73 / 61 / 59
Alliance / 30 / 30 / 15
Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party / 20 / 20 / 8
Democrats for Social Credit / 31 / 31 / 14
Family Party / 14 / 14 / 11
Green Party / 68 / 67* / 60
Jim Anderton's Progressive / 27 / 27 / 26
Kiwi Party / 37 / 25 / 36
Labour Party / 84 / 77* / 70
Libertarianz / 36 / 36 / 16
Māori Party / 19 / 19 / 7
National Party / 72 / 72* / 63
New Zealand First Party / 22 / 22 / 22
New Zealand Pacific Party / 14 / 14 / 8
RAM - Residents Action Movement / 26 / 26 / 11
The Bill and Ben Party / 2 / 2 / 0
The Republic of New Zealand Party / 6 / 6 / 5
United Future / 51 / 30 / 51
Workers Party / 14 / 14 / 4
Total / 646 / 593 / 486

* maximum number on the published list is 65

ENDS

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