Parties & Candidates

Anyone wanting to conduct polls, surveys, or telephone canvassing, put up signs or make promoter statements needs to read this section on the rules about doing these things.

Both the Electoral Act 1993 and the Broadcasting Act 1989 contain detailed rules on what parties and candidates can and cannot do when campaigning. These include rules on expenses and donations.

A candidate must be enrolled as a voter and be a New Zealand citizen, they must also comply with the rules on election donations, expenses, advertising, promotion and broadcasting.

Third parties are individuals or groups who are interested in being part of the electoral process and want to promote political events, parties or candidates. Certain rules apply in these cases.

Only registered political parties can campaign for party votes and be allocated broadcasting time and funds. This section sets out the registration process to do this and for creating party logos.

Both broadcasting and electoral laws govern how and when political parties, electorate candidates, and third parties can use radio and television advertising in election campaigns.

A citizens' initiated referendum is a non-binding referendum that can be called as a result of a successful petition under the Citizens Initiated Referenda Act 1993.