108-578: The Kiwi Party was a political party operating in New Zealand between 2007 and 2011. Briefly known as Future New Zealand, it was a breakaway from the United Future New Zealand party and sought to carry on the tradition of Future New Zealand . The party was formed when MP Gordon Copeland left United Future after a dispute over support for the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act 2007 . At
216-546: A liberal - conservative divide, or around religious disputes. The spread of the party model of politics was accelerated by the 1848 Revolutions around Europe. The strength of political parties in the United States waned during the Era of Good Feelings , but shifted and strengthened again by the second half of the 19th century. This was not the only country in which the strength of political parties had substantially increased by
324-526: A list MP , as Boscawen was already a list MP. United Future party president and former MP (2002–2008) Judy Turner was announced as her party's candidate on 14 May. In 2008, Turner stood in the East Coast seat, coming fifth with 3.3 percent of the vote. Ben Boyce is the second half of the comedy duo Bill and Ben. They stood on a "no policies, no promises, no disappointment" platform in 2008 and out-polled all other minor parties. Businesswoman Simonne Dyer
432-456: A party chair , who may be different people from the party leader. These executive organizations may serve to constrain the party leader, especially if that leader is an autocrat. It is common for political parties to conduct major leadership decisions, like selecting a party executive and setting their policy goals, during regular party conferences . Much as party leaders who are not in power are usually at least nominally competing to become
540-463: A single-member district electoral system tend to have very few parties, whereas countries that use proportional representation tend to have more. The number of parties in a country can also be accurately estimated based on the magnitude of a country's electoral districts and the number of seats in its legislature. An informative way to classify the party systems of the world is by how many parties they include. Because some party systems include
648-524: A Board of Management and Board of Reference for their new party, still tentatively named "Future New Zealand." He also asserted his right to continue sitting in New Zealand's Parliament as a list MP. Defunct On 25 January 2008, it was announced that Future New Zealand was to be known as the Kiwi Party. Copeland stepped down as co-leader to focus on his Parliamentary responsibilities, leaving Baldock as
756-599: A Labour-led government following the 2008 elections". Copeland also gave his proxy vote in Parliament to the National Party (except on matters of confidence and supply). In June 2007, Copeland announced in his monthly "Copeland's Chronicle" newsletter that Future New Zealand had attracted the necessary five hundred members required for registration under the Electoral Act 1993. Baldock and Copeland were working on establishing
864-416: A candidate in one electoral district has an incentive to assist a similar candidate in a different district. Thus, political parties can be mechanisms for preventing candidates with similar goals from acting to each other's detriment when campaigning or governing. This might help explain the ubiquity of parties: if a group of candidates form a party and are harming each other less, they may perform better over
972-526: A candidate to victory in an election. Some scholars argue that the first modern political parties developed in early modern Britain in the 17th century, after the Exclusion Crisis and the Glorious Revolution . The Whig faction originally organized itself around support for Protestant constitutional monarchy as opposed to absolute rule , whereas the conservative Tory faction (originally
1080-571: A chocolate lamington cake on ACT candidate Boscawen in protest of the supercity. Advocates binding citizens initiated referendums . Van den Heuvel is of the Human Rights Party . Bagnall contested the election for the Union of Fathers. Independent candidate A main issue in the campaign was the " Waterview Connection " – the connection of the Southwestern motorway at Mount Roskill with
1188-403: A community of party members. Parties in democracies usually select their party leadership in ways that are more open and competitive than parties in autocracies, where the selection of a new party leader is likely to be tightly controlled. In countries with large sub-national regions, particularly federalist countries, there may be regional party leaders and regional party members in addition to
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#17328732310851296-532: A country with multiple competitive parties is not necessarily democratic, and the politics of many autocratic countries are organized around one dominant political party. The ubiquity and strength of political parties in nearly every modern country has led researchers to remark that the existence of political parties is almost a law of politics, and to ask why parties appear to be such an essential part of modern states. Political scientists have therefore come up with several explanations for why political parties are
1404-413: A democracy will often affiliate with a specific political party. Party membership may include paying dues, an agreement not to affiliate with multiple parties at the same time, and sometimes a statement of agreement with the party's policies and platform. In democratic countries, members of political parties often are allowed to participate in elections to choose the party leadership. Party members may form
1512-451: A democracy. There have been periods of government exclusively or entirely by one party in some countries that are often considered to have been democratic, and which had no official legal barriers to the inclusion of other parties in the government; this includes recent periods in Botswana , Japan , Mexico , Senegal , and South Africa . It can also occur that one political party dominates
1620-426: A large membership base. Further, mass parties prioritize the mobilization of voters and are more centralized than elite parties. The term "catch-all party" was developed by German-American political scientist Otto Kirchheimer to describe the parties that developed in the 1950s and 1960s as a result of changes within the mass parties. The term "big tent party" may be used interchangeably. Kirchheimer characterized
1728-485: A large number of parties that have a very low probability of winning elections, it is often useful to think about the effective number of parties (the number of parties weighted by the strength of those parties) rather than the literal number of registered parties. In a non-partisan system, no political parties exist, or political parties are not a major part of the political system. There are very few countries without political parties . In some non-partisan countries,
1836-401: A large number of political parties around the world, not all political parties have an organizing ideology, or exist to promote ideological policies. For example, some political parties may be clientelistic or patronage -based organizations, which are largely concerned with distributing goods. Other political parties may be created as tools for the advancement of an individual politician. It
1944-545: A larger membership, greater stability over time, and a deeper connection to the electorate. The idea of people forming large groups or factions to advocate for their shared interests is ancient. Plato mentions the political factions of Classical Athens in the Republic , and Aristotle discusses the tendency of different types of government to produce factions in the Politics . Certain ancient disputes were also factional, like
2052-491: A major upheaval in their politics and have not yet returned to a stable system of political parties. For example, the United States began as a non-partisan democracy, and it evolved a stable system of political parties over the course of many decades. A country's party system may also dissolve and take time to re-form, leaving a period of minimal or no party system, such as in Peru following the regime of Alberto Fujimori . However, it
2160-399: A nearly universal political phenomenon. One of the core explanations for the existence of political parties is that they arise from pre-existing divisions among people: society is divided in a certain way, and a party is formed to organize that division into the electoral competition. By the 1950s, economists and political scientists had shown that party organizations could take advantage of
2268-511: A number of countries, particularly longstanding European democracies. Political scientists have distinguished between different types of political parties that have evolved throughout history. These include elite parties, mass parties, catch-all parties and cartel parties. Elite parties were political elites that were concerned with contesting elections and restricted the influence of outsiders, who were only required to assist in election campaigns. Mass parties tried to recruit new members who were
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#17328732310852376-438: A particular ideology. However, many political parties have no ideological affiliation, and may instead be primarily engaged in patronage , clientelism , the advancement of a specific political entrepreneur , or be a " big tent ", in that they wish to attract voters who have a variety of positions on issues. Political parties are collective entities and activities that organize competitions for political offices. The members of
2484-417: A phenonmenon observable among European Green parties during their transformation from radical environmentalist movements to mainstream centre-left parties. An Entrepreneurial party is a political party that is centered on a political entrepreneur , and dedicated to the advancement of that person or their policies. While some definitions of political parties state that a party is an organization that advances
2592-440: A political party contest elections under a shared label. In a narrow definition, a political party can be thought of as just the group of candidates who run for office under a party label. In a broader definition, political parties are the entire apparatus that supports the election of a group of candidates, including voters and volunteers who identify with a particular political party, the official party organizations that support
2700-511: A possible 70. The party won just 12,755 party votes, or 0.54% of the votes cast, well short of the 5% required to gain list-only representation without winning an electorate. Baldock stood in Tauranga , winning 1893 votes, well behind National's Simon Bridges and his New Zealand First and Labour challengers. Copeland was similarly unsuccessful in Rongotai , winning just 515 votes. Despite this result,
2808-863: A realistic chance of competing to form government. One current example of a two-party system is the United States , where the national government has for much of the country's history exclusively been controlled by either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party . Other examples of countries which have had long periods of two-party dominance include Colombia , Uruguay , Malta , and Ghana . Two-party systems are not limited to democracies; they may be present in authoritarian regimes as well. Competition between two parties has occurred in historical autocratic regimes in countries including Brazil and Venezuela . A democracy's political institutions can shape
2916-513: A secret privatisation agenda. Media speculation prior to the selection suggested that the Labour Party nomination would go to then-current list MP Phil Twyford . Twyford announced that he would not seek the seat on 21 April. This followed media reports that the Labour Party was unwilling to allow Twyford's list place to be taken by defeated Auckland Central MP Judith Tizard . First-term list MP Melissa Lee beat 2008 candidate Ravi Masuku for
3024-412: A single best policy choice without some institution constraining their options. Another prominent explanation for why political parties exist is psychological: parties may be necessary for many individuals to participate in politics because they provide a massively simplifying heuristic , which allows people to make informed choices with much less mental effort than if voters had to consciously evaluate
3132-548: A smaller group can be a feature of party leadership transitions in more autocratic countries, where the existence of political parties may be severely constrained to only one legal political party, or only one competitive party. Some of these parties, like the Chinese Communist Party , have rigid methods for selecting the next party leader, which involves selection by other party members. A small number of single-party states have hereditary succession, where party leadership
3240-405: A source of party income and were often expected to spread party ideology as well as assist in elections. In the United States, where both major parties were elite parties, the introduction of primaries and other reforms has transformed them so that power is held by activists who compete over influence and nomination of candidates. An elite party is a type of political party that was dominant in
3348-479: A specific set of ideological or policy goals, many political parties are not primarily motivated by ideology or policy, and instead exist to advance the career of a specific political entrepreneur . Political ideologies are one of the major organizing features of political parties, and parties often officially align themselves with specific ideologies. Parties adopt ideologies for a number of reasons. Ideological affiliations for political parties send signals about
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3456-460: A sub-national region of a democratic country that has a competitive national party system; one example is the southern United States during much of the 19th and 20th centuries, where the Democratic Party had almost complete control, with the Southern states being functionally one-party regimes, though opposition parties were never prohibited. In several countries, there are only two parties that have
3564-555: A supercity . The Mount Albert electorate is based around the neighbourhoods of western and central Auckland City. It includes the suburbs of Point Chevalier , Kingsland , Avondale , Waterview , as well as the eponymous Mount Albert. It has been held by the New Zealand Labour Party since its creation in 1946 ; Helen Clark was its representative from 1981 until 2009 and enjoyed a large majority in Mt Albert, winning 59% of
3672-470: A very large portion of society and it can play substantial roles in civil society that are not necessarily directly related to political governance; one example of this is the Chinese Communist Party . Bans on competing parties can also ensure that only one party can ever realistically hold power, even without completely outlawing all other political parties. For example, in North Korea , more than one party
3780-617: A way that does not conform to the dominant economic left-right divide in politics, in turn emphasising issues that do not attain prominence within the other parties. Further, niche parties do not respond to changes in public opinion to the extent that mainstream parties do. Examples of niche parties include Green parties and extreme nationalist parties, such as the National Rally in France. However, over time these parties may grow in size and shed some of their niche qualities as they become larger,
3888-521: Is also common, in countries with important social cleavages along ethnic or racial lines, to represent the interests of one ethnic group or another. This may involve a non-ideological attachment to the interests of that group, or may be a commitment based on an ideology like identity politics . While any of these types of parties may be ideological, there are political parties that do not have any organizing ideology. Political parties are ubiquitous across both democratic and autocratic countries, and there
3996-423: Is also possible – albeit rare – for countries with no bans on political parties, and which have not experienced a major disruption, to nevertheless have no political parties: there are a small number of pacific island democracies, such as Palau , where political parties are permitted to exist and yet parties are not an important part of national politics. In a one-party system , power
4104-495: Is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics , and parties may promote specific ideological or policy goals. Political parties have become a major part of the politics of almost every country, as modern party organizations developed and spread around the world over the last few centuries. Although some countries have no political parties , this is extremely rare. Most countries have several parties while others only have one . Parties are important in
4212-565: Is held entirely by one political party. When only one political party exists, it may be the result of a ban on the formation of any competing political parties, which is a common feature in authoritarian states. For example, the Communist Party of Cuba is the only permitted political party in Cuba , and is the only party that can hold seats in the legislature. When only one powerful party is legally permitted to exist, its membership can grow to contain
4320-407: Is inherited by the child of an outgoing party leader. Autocratic parties use more restrictive selection methods to avoid having major shifts in the regime as a result of successions. In both democratic and non-democratic countries, the party leader is often the foremost member of a larger party leadership. A party executive will commonly include administrative positions, like a party secretary and
4428-408: Is largely insignificant as parties use the resources of the state to maintain their position within the political system. Niche parties are a type of political party that developed on the basis of the emergence of new cleavages and issues in politics, such as immigration and the environment. In contrast to mainstream or catch-all parties, niche parties articulate an often limited set of interests in
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4536-521: Is officially permitted to exist and even to seat members in the legislature, but laws ensure that the Workers' Party of Korea retains control. It is also possible for countries with free elections to have only one party that holds power. These cases are sometimes called dominant-party systems or particracies . Scholars have debated whether or not a country that has never experienced a transfer of power from one party to another can nevertheless be considered
4644-399: Is often very little change in which political parties have a chance of holding power in a country from one election to the next. This makes it possible to think about the political parties in a country as collectively forming one of the country's central political institutions , called a party system. Some basic features of a party system are the number of parties and what sorts of parties are
4752-442: Is reduced as catch-all parties are financed in part by the state or by donations. In Europe, the shift of Christian Democratic parties that were organized around religion into broader centre-right parties epitomizes this type. Cartel parties are a type of political party that emerged post-1970s and are characterized by heavy state financing and the diminished role of ideology as an organizing principle. The cartel party thesis
4860-432: Is the ideology that is most closely connected to the history of democracies and is often considered to be the dominant or default ideology of governing parties in much of the contemporary world. Many of the traditional competitors to liberal parties are conservative parties. Socialist, communist, feminist, anarchist, fascist, and nationalist parties are more recent developments, largely entering political competitions only in
4968-513: The 2008 election . There were fifteen candidates in total. Former UN Deputy Special Representative and 2002 candidate for Whangarei David Shearer won the Labour nomination from a field of eight candidates including lawyer Helen White and Auckland City councillor Glenda Fryer. Shortly after his selection, media attention focused on articles he wrote for Foreign Affairs and World Today (in 1998 and 2001 respectively) arguing for
5076-462: The 2008 general election , the Kiwi Party was unsuccessful, and was not re-elected to Parliament. It did not contest the 2011 general election under its own banner, but the leaders and other members stood for the Conservative Party . The party advocated more direct democracy through referendums and a return to the "Judeo-Christian ethic in democracy". On 8 February 2012, it requested that
5184-442: The 2009 referendum which attempted to repeal the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act 2007 . The referendum passed with the support of 87.4% of voters, but was non-binding, and the government responded by promising a review of the law. In response, Baldock circulated a second citizens initiated referendum, calling for binding citizens initiated referendums in future debates. The proposed referendum petition fell well short of
5292-473: The Auckland Region was another issue that was raised in the by-election campaign. The Royal Commission on Auckland Governance released its report at the end of March and the ruling National Party outlined its plans before campaigning began. Labour did not support the current legislation relating to the supercity, and filibustered on the weekend of 15–18 May 2009, by proposing about 1000 amendments to
5400-655: The Electoral Commission cancel its registration, which rendered it wholly subsumed into the Conservative Party. On its website, it announced that after holding an executive committee meeting in December 2011, the party had agreed to be 'wound up' and 'bring its existence to an end.' On 16 May 2007, list MP Gordon Copeland resigned from the United Future party, citing differences with party leader Peter Dunne over
5508-625: The Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party . By the early 19th century, a number of countries had developed stable modern party systems. The party system that developed in Sweden has been called the world's first party system, on the basis that previous party systems were not fully stable or institutionalized. In many European countries, including Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, and France, political parties organized around
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#17328732310855616-480: The National Party nomination on 5 May. Lee faced allegations that her production company Asia Vision had spent New Zealand on Air money making a promotional video for the National Party ahead of the 2008 election. Lee called the allegations "ridiculous", saying that all work on the video was done on a voluntary basis. New Zealand on Air investigated and cleared Lee of any misconduct. The Green Party complained to
5724-737: The Nika riots between two chariot racing factions at the Hippodrome of Constantinople . A few instances of recorded political groups or factions in history included the late Roman Republic's Populares and Optimates factions as well as the Dutch Republic's Orangists and the Staatsgezinde . However, modern political parties are considered to have emerged around the end of the 18th century; they are usually considered to have first appeared in Europe and
5832-564: The Royalist or Cavalier faction of the English Civil War ) supported a strong monarchy, and these two groups structured disputes in the politics of the United Kingdom throughout the 18th century The Rockingham Whigs have been identified as the first modern political party, because they retained a coherent party label and motivating principles even while out of power. At the end of
5940-417: The 19th and 20th centuries. Environmentalism, multiculturalism, and certain types of fundamentalism became prominent towards the end of the 20th century. Parties can sometimes be organized according to their ideology using an economic left–right political spectrum . However, a simple left-right economic axis does not fully capture the variation in party ideologies. Other common axes that are used to compare
6048-559: The Electoral Commission, saying that the video should have been declared as an election expense. If Lee had won the by-election, the next (58th) person on the National Party list – Conway Powell – would have become a list MP , as Lee was already a list MP. Green Party co-leader Russel Norman was the only nomination from his party and was the first candidate from a party then in Parliament to declare his candidacy. In 2008, he stood in Rongotai , finishing third with 15.84% of
6156-521: The Kiwi Party announced that it would not be standing any candidates in the election, and that several members had joined the Conservative Party and would be standing for it. Party leader Baldock was number three on the Conservative Party list and stood again in Tauranga . Deputy leader Dyer was number 7 on the list and stood in East Coast Bays . Party president Copeland stood in Hutt South . No candidate
6264-687: The Northwestern motorway at the suburb of Waterview, on the northern edge of the seat. Transit New Zealand announced in 2008 (during the last year of the Fifth Labour Government ) that its preferred option was for a two-lane tunnel costed at NZ$ 1.97 billion. The final cost of NZ$ 3.1 billion cited by the National Government included an expansion to a three-lane tunnel, upgrades to connecting roads and financing costs. In May 2009, National's Transport Minister Steven Joyce announced that he
6372-552: The United States of America, with the United Kingdom's Conservative Party and the Democratic Party of the United States both frequently called the world's "oldest continuous political party". Before the development of mass political parties, elections typically featured a much lower level of competition, had small enough polities that direct decision-making was feasible, and held elections that were dominated by individual networks or cliques that could independently propel
6480-405: The base of the volunteer activists and donors who support political parties during campaigns. The extent of participation in party organizations can be affected by a country's political institutions, with certain electoral systems and party systems encouraging higher party membership. Since at least the 1980s, membership in large traditional party organizations has been steadily declining across
6588-454: The by-election are as follows: Notes: Blue background denotes the winner of the by-election. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list prior to the by-election. Yellow background denotes the winner of the by-election, who was a list MP prior to the by-election. A [REDACTED] Y or [REDACTED] N denotes status of any incumbent , win or lose respectively. Three candidates were list MPs elected at
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#17328732310856696-467: The century, the United States also developed a party system, called the First Party System . Although the framers of the 1787 United States Constitution did not all anticipate that American political disputes would be primarily organized around political parties, political controversies in the early 1790s over the extent of federal government powers saw the emergence of two proto-political parties :
6804-438: The claim that parties emerge from existing cleavages, or arguing that the claim is not empirically testable. Others note that while social cleavages might cause political parties to exist, this obscures the opposite effect: that political parties also cause changes in the underlying social cleavages. A further objection is that, if the explanation for where parties come from is that they emerge from existing social cleavages, then
6912-424: The cognitive burden for people to cast informed votes. However, some evidence suggests that over the last several decades, the strength of party identification has been weakening, so this may be a less important function for parties to provide than it was in the past. Political parties are often structured in similar ways across countries. They typically feature a single party leader, a group of party executives, and
7020-575: The distribution of voters' preferences over political issues, adjusting themselves in response to what voters believe in order to become more competitive. Beginning in the 1960s, academics began identifying the social cleavages in different countries that might have given rise to specific parties, such as religious cleavages in specific countries that may have produced religious parties there. The theory that parties are produced by social cleavages has drawn several criticisms. Some authors have challenged it on empirical grounds, either finding no evidence for
7128-431: The election of that party's candidates, and legislators in the government who are affiliated with the party. In many countries, the notion of a political party is defined in law, and governments may specify requirements for an organization to legally qualify as a political party. Political parties are distinguished from other political groups or clubs, such as parliamentary groups, because only presidents have control over
7236-686: The election. David Shearer of the Labour Party won the election with 63% of the vote. The seat was vacated by former Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark , who resigned from the New Zealand Parliament on 17 April 2009 following her appointment to head the United Nations Development Programme . Main issues surrounding the campaign included the building of the Waterview Connection and the Auckland Region becoming
7344-471: The electorate vote in the 2008 election while Labour only won 42% of the party vote. Prior to the election, National had 58 seats in the House of Representatives , Labour had 42, Green had 9, ACT had 5, Māori had 5, Progressive had 1, and United Future had 1. Labour had lost one seat since the general election , as a result of the resignation of Clark, which caused the by-election. The key dates for
7452-622: The electorate. The contributions that citizens give to political parties are often regulated by law, and parties will sometimes govern in a way that favours the people who donate time and money to them. Many political parties are motivated by ideological goals. It is common for democratic elections to feature competitions between liberal , conservative , and socialist parties; other common ideologies of very large political parties include communism , populism , nationalism , and Islamism . Political parties in different countries will often adopt similar colours and symbols to identify themselves with
7560-490: The end of the century; for example, around this time the Irish political leader Charles Stewart Parnell implemented several methods and structures like party discipline that would come to be associated with strong grassroots political parties. At the beginning of the 20th century in Europe, the liberal–conservative divide that characterized most party systems was disrupted by the emergence of socialist parties, which attracted
7668-411: The entire party, and some voters decide how to vote in elections partly based on how much they like the leaders of the different parties. The number of people involved in choosing party leaders varies widely across parties and across countries. On one extreme, party leaders might be selected from the entire electorate; on the opposite extreme, they might be selected by just one individual. Selection by
7776-769: The first political party in Uganda, and its name was chosen as an homage to the Indian National Congress. As broader suffrage rights and eventually universal suffrage slowly spread throughout democracies, political parties expanded dramatically, and only then did a vision develop of political parties as intermediaries between the full public and the government. Political parties are a nearly ubiquitous feature of modern countries. Nearly all democratic countries have strong political parties, and many political scientists consider countries with fewer than two parties to necessarily be autocratic . However, these sources allow that
7884-662: The formation of parties is explicitly banned by law. The existence of political parties may be banned in autocratic countries in order to prevent a turnover in power. For example, in Saudi Arabia , a ban on political parties has been used as a tool for protecting the monarchy. However, parties are also banned in some polities that have long democratic histories, usually in local or regional elections of countries that have strong national party systems. Political parties may also temporarily cease to exist in countries that have either only been established recently, or that have experienced
7992-560: The head of government, the entire party executive may be competing for various positions in the government. For example, in Westminster systems , the largest party that is out of power will form the Official Opposition in parliament, and select a shadow cabinet which (among other functions) provides a signal about which members of the party would hold which positions in the government if the party were to win an election. Citizens in
8100-464: The head of government. In both presidential democracies and parliamentary democracies , the members of a party frequently have substantial input into the selection of party leaders, for example by voting on party leadership at a party conference . Because the leader of a major party is a powerful and visible person, many party leaders are well-known career politicians. Party leaders can be sufficiently prominent that they affect voters' perceptions of
8208-464: The ideologies of political parties include ranges from liberal to authoritarian, from pro-establishment to anti-establishment , and from tolerant and pluralistic (in their behavior while participating in the political arena) to anti-system. Party positions for individual political parties are assessed by different published indices, such as the V-Party Dataset . Though ideologies are central to
8316-518: The introduction of universal suffrage resulted in the creation of worker's parties that later evolved into mass parties; an example is the German Social Democratic Party . These parties represented large groups of citizens who had not previously been represented in political processes, articulating the interests of different groups in society. In contrast to elite parties, mass parties are funded by their members, and rely on and maintain
8424-456: The latter's support of the child-discipline bill . Copeland announced his intention to re-form an independent Future New Zealand party with former United Future list MP Larry Baldock as co-leader. Copeland and Baldock acknowledged that the new party would face difficulties over issues like legal ownership of the party name, but were hopeful that they would be able to attract United Future's former conservative Christian voters. An inaugural meeting
8532-530: The legislation, as the government was not sending it to the select committee process, and that a referendum was not being held for Aucklanders to decide whether a supercity was wanted. David Shearer and Melissa Lee were interviewed by Paul Holmes on TVNZ's show on Sunday, 10 May. On Sunday, 7 June, Russel Norman and John Boscawen were interviewed on the show. On Wednesday, 10 June, John Boscawen , Melissa Lee , Russel Norman , David Shearer and Judy Turner (the candidates from five main parties) appeared on
8640-404: The long run than unaffiliated politicians , so politicians with party affiliations will out-compete politicians without parties. Parties can also align their member's incentives when those members are in a legislature. The existence of a party apparatus can help coalitions of electors to agree on ideal policy choices, whereas a legislature of unaffiliated members might never be able to agree on
8748-448: The merits of every candidate individually. Without political parties, electors would have to individually evaluate every candidate in every election. Parties enable electors to make judgments about just a few groups, and then apply their judgment of the party to its entire slate of candidates. Because it is much easier to become informed about a few parties' platforms than the positions of a multitude of independent candidates, parties reduce
8856-440: The most successful. These properties are closely connected to other major features of the country's politics, such as how democratic it is, what sorts of restrictions its laws impose on political parties, and what type of electoral systems it uses. Even in countries where the number of political parties is not officially constrained by law, political institutions affect how many parties are viable. For example, democracies that use
8964-432: The national membership and leadership. Parties are typically led by a party leader , who serves as the main representative of the party and often has primary responsibility for overseeing the party's policies and strategies. The leader of the party that controls the government usually becomes the head of government , such as the president or prime minister , and the leaders of other parties explicitly compete to become
9072-561: The need for any construction. Melissa Lee was widely criticised for claiming that the SH20 Waterview Connection would stop criminals from South Auckland committing crime in Mt Albert. Her party leader John Key called her comments "stupid" and Lee later apologised. This happens..... people coming in from South Auckland get to Mount Albert, right?...and the thing it's like, hopefully, we could divert some of that traffic and criminals away from Mount Albert... The governance of
9180-434: The nineteenth century before the introduction of universal suffrage. The French political scientist Maurice Duverger first distinguished between elite and "mass" parties, founding his distinction on the differences within the organisational structures of these two types. Elite parties are characterized by minimal and loose organisation, and are financed by fewer larger monetary contributions typically originating from outside
9288-453: The number of parties that it has. In the 1950s Maurice Duverger observed that single-member district single-vote plurality-rule elections tend to produce two-party systems, and this phenomenon came to be known as Duverger's law . Whether or not this pattern is true has been heavily debated over the last several decades. Some political scientists have broadened this idea to argue that more restrictive political institutions (of which first past
9396-470: The party stated that they would contest the next general election, in 2011. Gordon Copeland was elected as Party President in March 2009. The party contested the 2009 Mount Albert by-election , selecting Simmone Dyer as their candidate. Dyer came seventh with 91 votes. The party did not contest the subsequent Mana , Botany or Te Tai Tokerau by-elections. Larry Baldock was one of the chief protagonists behind
9504-547: The party. Elite parties give little priority to expanding the party's membership base, and its leaders are its only members. The earliest political parties, such as the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists , are classified as elite parties. A mass party is a type of political party that developed around cleavages in society and mobilized the ordinary citizens or 'masses' in the political process. In Europe,
9612-411: The plan as "better than the worst of all options", but added that the best anti-congestion investment would be public transport. National's candidate Melissa Lee backed the surface option, saying that the decision would bring certainty to the area. She also suggests that the tunnel option was "unaffordable". Meanwhile, Independent candidate Jackson Wood proposed a series of zeppelins to carry cars without
9720-586: The policies of Indira Gandhi in the 1970s. The formation of the Indian National Congress , which developed in the late 19th century as a pro-independence faction in British India and immediately became a major political party after Indian independence, foreshadowed the dynamic in many newly independent countries; for example, the Uganda National Congress was a pro-independence party and
9828-475: The political foundations of the party and also they include political factions, or advocacy groups, mostly by the fact that a party is focused on electing candidates, whereas a parliamentary group is a group of political parties, a political faction is a subgroup within a political party, and an advocacy group is focused on advancing a policy agenda. This is related to other features that sometimes distinguish parties from other political organizations, including
9936-443: The politics of autocracies as well as democracies , though usually democracies have more political parties than autocracies. Autocracies often have a single party that governs the country, and some political scientists consider competition between two or more parties to be an essential part of democracy. Parties can develop from existing divisions in society, like the divisions between lower and upper classes , and they streamline
10044-459: The post is one example) tend to produce a smaller number of political parties, so that extremely small parties systems – like those with only two parties – tend to form in countries with very restrictive rules. Mount Albert by-election, 2009 Helen Clark Labour David Shearer Labour The 2009 Mount Albert by-election was held in the New Zealand electorate of Mount Albert on 13 June 2009. There were fifteen candidates in
10152-497: The process of making political decisions by encouraging their members to cooperate. Political parties usually include a party leader, who has primary responsibility for the activities of the party; party executives, who may select the leader and who perform administrative and organizational tasks; and party members, who may volunteer to help the party, donate money to it, and vote for its candidates. There are many different ways in which political parties can be structured and interact with
10260-551: The required number of signatures to trigger such a referendum and lapsed on 10 December 2010. The demise of the Family Party and New Zealand Pacific Party in 2010 left the Kiwi Party as the only conservative Christian-based political party within New Zealand politics. This was changed by the arrival of Colin Craig 's Conservative Party of New Zealand in August 2011. On 14 October 2011
10368-403: The shift from the traditional mass parties to catch-all parties as a set of developments including the "drastic reduction of the party's ideological baggage" and the "downgrading of the role of the individual party member". By broadening their central ideologies into more open-ended ones, catch-all parties seek to secure the support of a wider section of the population. Further, the role of members
10476-668: The sole leader. The party applied to the Electoral Commission to register its new name, and was registered on 15 February 2008. At the party's South Island conference in Christchurch the party outlined a number of policy ideas: Going into the 2008 elections, the party had only one list MP, and no electorate MPs, in Parliament, and did not register significant support in national polls. Acting secretary Bernie Ogilvy apologised for not applying for free election broadcasting in time; Larry Baldock said "This does make our task just that much harder." The party fielded 25 electorate candidates out of
10584-447: The support of organized trade unions . During the wave of decolonization in the mid-20th century, many newly sovereign countries outside of Europe and North America developed party systems that often emerged from their movements for independence. For example, a system of political parties arose out of factions in the Indian independence movement , and was strengthened and stabilized by
10692-422: The theory is an incomplete story of where political parties come from unless it also explains the origins of these social cleavages. An alternative explanation for why parties are ubiquitous across the world is that the formation of parties provides compatible incentives for candidates and legislators. For example, the existence of political parties might coordinate candidates across geographic districts, so that
10800-589: The types of policies they might pursue if they were in power. Ideologies also differentiate parties from one another, so that voters can select the party that advances the policies that they most prefer. A party may also seek to advance an ideology by convincing voters to adopt its belief system. Common ideologies that can form a central part of the identity of a political party include liberalism , conservatism , socialism , communism , anarchism , fascism , feminism , environmentalism , nationalism , fundamentalism , Islamism , and multiculturalism . Liberalism
10908-431: The use and regulation of private military companies by Western governments for peacekeeping missions where they are unwilling to contribute troops. This was at odds with the position of Labour Party Leader and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Phil Goff . National Party Leader and Prime Minister John Key said this was "a hypocritical position" because Labour claimed during 2008's election campaign that National had
11016-552: The vote. If Norman had won the by-election, the next (10th) person on the Green Party list – David Clendon – would have become a list MP , as Norman was already a list MP. ACT selected list MP John Boscawen on 2 May. In the 2008 election, Boscawen ran in the seat of North Shore , coming fourth with 4% of the vote. If Boscawen had won the by-election, the next (6th) person on the ACT list – Hilary Calvert – would have become
11124-441: Was "not comfortable" with this cost, preferring a surface option costing NZ$ 1.1 billion. Although this option is over a billion dollars cheaper, the plan will require the demolition of 365 houses along the route in addition to the ones required for the tunnel option. Labour called the option "second class" and that the decision was dismissive of the wishes of the people of Mount Albert. Green Party candidate Russel Norman described
11232-509: Was a 32-year-old computer programmer and former deputy leader of Libertarianz . Jackson Wood was the then-editor of Victoria University student magazine Salient . He announced his independent candidacy on 21 April, being the first person to do so. He campaigned from Wellington, instead of Auckland, save for an open-invite slingshot battle on top of Mount Albert on 6 June, which he invited all other candidates to attend. Climaction coordinator. France's policies include: France smeared
11340-419: Was developed by Richard Katz and Peter Mair , who wrote that political parties have turned into "semi-state agencies", acting on behalf of the state rather than groups in society. The term 'cartel' refers to the way in which prominent parties in government make it difficult for new parties to enter, as such forming a cartel of established parties. As with catch-all parties, the role of members in cartel parties
11448-461: Was held in Baldock's city of residence, Tauranga , and former United Future list MP Bernie Ogilvy became party secretary. Meanwhile, Brian Tamaki and his Destiny New Zealand party announced that it would contest the New Zealand conservative Christian vote at the next New Zealand general election in 2008. On 14 June 2007 Copeland announced that Future New Zealand would "not work with, or be part of,
11556-617: Was selected by The Kiwi Party on 4 May. In 2008 she was her party's candidate for Rodney , where she finished second to last with 1.55% of the vote. Former National Party chair of the Pakuranga electorate Dakta Green was selected as the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party candidate on 2 May. Green had been arrested a number of times in the campaign for drugs offences. In response, Green has alleged police harassment and political interference in his campaign. Julian Pistorius
11664-476: Was successful. Other members also stood for the Conservatives on their party list. The party was deregistered at its own request on 8 February 2012, which marks the cessation of its independent political existence. Its former website URL is now also inoperative. Political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections . It
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