So far, only two micro-parties have thrown their hat in the ring. The Kiwi Party has nominated Simonne Dyer with Larry Baldock calling her an ‘exceptional woman with a lifetime of service to many.. a former CEO of a large Hospital ship.’ Simonne appears to have displaced former Mt.Albert candidate Christian Dawson, the fact that the Kiwi Party felt the need to do this indicates that they will be taking this by-election very seriously. Their press release gives a hint of their campaigning strategy and intentions with Baldock saying that “No other candidate in this by-election will be speaking about importance of returning this nation to its foundational values.” Hmm, might the Kiwi Party be fishing for the NZFirst reactionary vote? They go further, accusing National, Act, Labour and the Greens of working to ‘undermine timeless values.’ Wanting to return to the good old days? Check. Accusing other parties of a grand conspiracy? Check. Attempting to stir up a mood of moral panic and outrage for electoral gain? Check. If NZ First and United Future do not stand  any candidates, Dyer may very well pick up the NZ First vote in the last election (932) and the United Futurist vote (232), combine it with the Kiwi Party total (157) and reach the 1000 vote threshold. If she campaigns well enough, she may pick up upset Musukuites, who are annoyed with Head Office shoeing in Melissa Lee. (Ravi Musuku was the National Party candidate in the previous elections and intimately linked to the National Party’s Christian Wing) The best case scenario for the Kiwi Party is to rack up around 2000-3000 votes, coming fourth in a tight race, this will fuel intense mainstream media speculation that they cost National the by-election. Intense media speculation will lead to a higher profile to the Kiwi Party.

The other declared candidate for a micro party is Dakta Green from the Aotearoa Legalize Cannabis Party. Green’s last name may confuse voters who intend to vote for the Green Party. Green also shares one plank in common with the Green Party platform which is the de-criminalization of cannabis. Any vote that Green steals from the Greens will be a loss to National because in a FPP election, a vote for the Green Party is effectively a vote for the National

Overall, the two micro-parties that have declared candidates can end up losing  1000-3500 for the National Party. A not so insignificant number in what will undoubtedly be a close election.

The Kiwi Party represents the archetypal effort at creating a viable ‘mainstream’ Christian party and attempting to sell it off to the New Zealand Public. It contains the critical elements – has been politicians trying to relive their glory days, a splinter from a much larger political party, failed mergers with parties sharing 99% of their platform, a single-issue campaign that fails to gain much traction and perhaps most importantly, grand delusions of grandeur and a bad case of the Napoleonic Complex.

Gordon Copeland formed the breakaway party in the aftermath of the “Anti-Smacking Bill” introduced by Sue Bradford. Along with Larry Baldock, he considered the deprivation of the ability to mack your kids in the forehead with a chain an anathema to his brand of “Christianity.” When he left on 17 May 2007, he dragged with him the uber-conservatives of Peter Dunne’s United Future Party and attempted to form a holy union with Brian Tamaki’s Destiny New Zealand, Taito-Philip Fields and the other various ‘Christian’ parties which promptly fell apart before the Conference had even finished (in fact before it had even started.)

These various ‘Christian,’ which ironically as a label, the Kiwi Party rejects contested the 2008 Election and polled around 2.5% (the combined totals of United Future, Kiwi Party, Family Party and the Pacific Party.) Interestingly, of the 4 parties, only United Future and the Kiwi Party have remained. Copeland has managed to remain as the leader of the Kiwi Party, having been elected as the President of the Board of the Kiwi Party. Interestingly enough, it seems that Copeland does have some media contacts with TVNZ running the story on their website and TV ONE News.

The story of Christian politics in New Zealand has been one of mostly failures, the parties that have explicitly branded themselves as “Christian” such as the Christian Coalition have regularly failed to cross the 5% threshold. It is a crowder market, with most mainstream Christians voting along mostly secular lines for the two major parties. The Christians who see social justice issues as a foremost concern tend to break for Labour (or Jim Anderton’s Progressives) whereas the Christians who see social issues such as gay marriage and abortion as the main issues tend to vote right wing.

Copeland has a chance to win the portion of Christians who do not vote for the parliamentary parties, the Family Party and the Pacific Party are currently showing no signs of life. A very good campaign, along with the right socio-economic conditions and a fading Dunne could see the Kiwi Party pull out a shock victory (getting into parliament counts as such) and enter Parliament. Far more unlikely things have happened anyway.

Still havent updated their site yet though! I had to hear about this in the MSM. Still, the fact that a party which polled 0.56% and get coverage in the MSM must mean that they have contacts.

1. The Bill and Ben Party: The joke party that got votes than the Alliance, Worker’s Party and RAM combined during last year’s general election. Despite this, they don’t actually have any policies or a philosophy which can rise above the cliched rantings of a drunken fresher. They probably wouldn’t want to get in anyway and would probably pull out at the first sign of them reaching the 5% threshold.
2. Direct Democracy Party: The party that aimed to promote swiss style binding referendums headed by a Maori separatist by the name of Kelvyn Alp. Got into intellectual catfights with David Farrar and other bloggers at the 2005 election then faded away. Need I say more?
3. The Family Party: Contested the 2008 election on the basis of protecting families claiming to represent ‘pro-family traditional Christians.’ Targeted the same audience as the Pacific Party without the malus of a court judgment. Did worse than the Bill and Ben Party, not since heard from.
4. Aotearoa Legalize Cannabis Party: Electorally redundant as the Green Party shares a broadly similar approach to Cannabis legalization. Single issue parties don’t tend to do well in an economic recession either, especially ones about legalizing weed.
5. New World Order Party: Promised an end to world poverty and to unify the world under a “New World Order.” Received free broadcasting time but did not contest the 2008 election. To this day, I’m still unsure whether or not they were serious or a highly talented performance art troupe.
6. Republic of New Zealand Party: Used as a vehicle to advance party leader Kerry Bevin’s anti-feminist policies. Supports the abolition of the Treaty of Waitangi. Has done more damage to the Republican cause in New Zealand than that Republican guy who threw shit at the Queen. Would’ve done better as a single-issue party….
7. The New Zealand National Front: The only party that can call protests and be outnumbered by counter protesters by 10 to 1. The only party that can splinter 3 different pieces in a single year. The only party that is just so totally incompetent that they’ve never managed to get themselves on the ballot. A far-right racist party intent on creating a white only New Zealand. Let’s hope they don’t figure out anytime soon.

1. New Zealand First: New Zealand First rises to the top of the electoral detritus. New Zealand First still has superior brand, most resources, most charismatic leadership and their recent election loss means that they will be hungry to get back into parliament. If/when the recession seriously hits New Zealand they can wheel out their well-worn populist economic rhetoric and get over the 5% threshold.
2. The Alliance: The Alliance gets a close second. Like the Byzantine Empire, they can look back to the glories of the old days when they actually mattered. Their brand is well known and recognizable to an older generation of New Zealanders and university students. A merger with RAM and the Worker’s Party could unite the fractious non-parliamentary left and if the economic crisis worsens they just might be able to get back into parliament taking either Jim Anderton’s Sydenham seat or breaching the 5% threshold.
3. The Kiwi Party: The Christian Heritage/Coalition’s good electoral showing in 2002 proved that there is a market in New Zealand for Christian Politics. Dissatisfaction of the Religious Right by John Key’s liberalism could provide the perfect opening for the The Kiwi Party. It could cast itself in this mould and either get 5% or Dunne’s Ohariu seat or a combination of both. However, there’s been no new news for them since the election finished and they may be dead.
4. Resident’s Action Movement (RAM): The 2007 Local Council elections in Auckland showed their organizational strength in New Zealand’s most important city, the 2008 election election showed that this strength was on the back of a weak centre-left ticket. With the creation of the Auckland Super City, RAM has the potential to build their party from the ground up, winning community board posts and council seats. A weak looking Labour Party could provide the perfect opening for this micro party.
5. The Worker’s Party: The Worker’s Party showed it’s presence last week over protests over the ‘Fire At Will’ Bill. Has a tiny core of hardened and dedicated activists, could unite the non-parliamentary Left under it’s banner and sweep to power on the back of an ever worsening recession.
6. New Zealand Pacific Party: The fact that this party is at 6 despite Taito Philip-Fields being on trial for a variety of dodgy dealings speaks volumes about the quality of micro parties. Fields needs to pray, hard, that Labour implodes. Even then it might not matter, is it possible to run for public office from prison?
7. LibertiaNZ: The libertarian field crowded enough with ACT. Hide’s flip-flopping on gang patches and their support for the prison industry and ‘tough’ law and order policies could provide them with a narrow opening in 2011. Has the added disadvantage of the current recession discrediting libertarianism.

HatTip to Anita and the Kiwipolitico

The Alliance: The Alliance Party is showing that they are an active organization with a strong response to the introduction of the ‘Fire at Will’ bill and John Key’s job summit. Generated quite a bit of buzz around the left-wing blogosphere too, sadly for them it failed to gain any traction in the mainstream media. B

Bill and Ben Party:  Same mark as last week. Nothing new. C-

 New Zealand Democratic Party: No Changes. D-

 Direct Democracy Party: Effectively dead. F-

 The Family Party: No Changes. D

Aotearoa Legalize Cannabis Party: No changes. C

 LibertiaNZ: No changes besides their blog. C+

New World Order Party: Dead. F-

New Zealand First: Disappeared from all mainstream media coverage. Negligable netroots presence, would declare itdead if not for the fact that their grassroots probably sustains themselves differently. C

 New Zealand National Front: Effectively defunct. D-

 Kiwi Party: Defunct. D-

 New Zealand Pacific Party: Website back, no updates since election. C-

 Republic of New Zealand Party: Effectively dead. F

 Residents Action Movement: Kudos to them for showing a physical presence and an active web presence with Oliver Woods’ blog being frequently updated. As per the Alliance I have given them a . B

 Workers Party: Showed  strong signs of life this/last weekend. Frequent updates on their official website. B

The Alliance: The Alliance Party is looking alive, if out of the mainstream media spotlight. The latest entry on their official party website was a statement supporting the Creative Freedom Foundation’s Internet Blackout campaign. C+

Bill and Ben Party: Based on their facebook page, I’d say that the Bill and Party is dead as evidenced by the lack of any new updates since the election. However there seems to be a daily stream of different people commenting on how much ‘you rock’ so I’m going to have to give them a pass on the basis of an active grassroots. C-

New Zealand Democratic Party: To be honest, I didn’t even know these guys were still alive. Last news item posted last month. I wouldn’t say they’re defunct, but they sure aren’t going to get over the 0.01% they got the last election. D-

Direct Democracy Party: Probably dead. Did not submit a party list or contest the 2008 New Zealand General Election. Couldn’t find a website at all. Their ‘official’ party website is defunct, couldn’t find an online presence at all. Effectively dead. F-

The Family Party: Last update done after the election. No update since, however they are probably sustained by a non-Internet base that comes together only for elections and I’m going to have to give them a D on that basis.

Aotearoa Legalize Cannabis Party: The last update of their website was last week. So the base of the ALCP is alive. Also there were apparently 24 guests on their website when I logged on. C

LibertiaNZ: The last update of their official website was quite a while ago. However their blog “Not PC” is updated on a regular basis. However, there isn’t a mainstream media presence so a C+

New World Order Party: Doesn’t seem to have a website. Didn’t contest the 2008 General Election. Probably dead. F

New Zealand First: Their official party website links to two separate websites, neither of which has been updated since November. However, they have been on the news quite a lot this month, proving that they still do have some pull with the Mainstream Media, being on the news also keeps their party in the public eye. Their challenge is to be on the news at least once every month until 2011. B

New Zealand National Front: The last update on their website was early this month… which was to deny responsibility about the only thing they’d been on the media for which was the establishment of whites only homeland in New Zealand. Kyle Chapman’s blog hasn’t been updated since November last year after they didn’t even bother contesting the General Election. D-

Kiwi Party: Website hasn’t updated since October last year. Probably dead. D-

New Zealand Pacific Party: Website was up and running last week. But it 404′d on me when I tried to view it today. I would usually say they’re dead, except they probably sustain their base on a non-internet platform. D

Republic of New Zealand Party: Uh, oh. The website is ‘currently under review. Which means it’ll be taken down real soon. Got the lowest ever party vote in 2008. Effectively dead. F+

Residents Action Movement: The Party website hasn’t been updated recently, but Oliver Woods’ blog has. Rumour has it that the party is undergoing factional infighting at the moment. But at least it’s showing signs of life. C-

Workers Party: Based on the website, there seems to be a very vibrant and thriving party full of intellectual debates. 5 updates just for this week. Zero mainstream media coverage means, however, that they wont be able to move beyond C+

And that finishes this weeks edition of Wednesday Watch.

Here’s a link to their website:

http://creativefreedom.org.nz/blackout.html

As promised, this post will deal with the issue of why micro parties remain micro. By necessity, this can never be a complete or full list of why they remain electoral failures, but I hope it will at least provide a basic structure for understanding why.

Broadly speaking, the ingredients needed to make a successful political party can be divided into five categories: Money, Leadership, Organization,Media and Policies (MLOMP). A party lacking one can still break out of micro party status, a party lacking two can still arguably break through. (See New Zealand First) But most micro parties seem only to posses at most one, if any, of these traits.

1. Money: As in war, money is the sinews of politics. Without any money, micro parties can only go so far. Although most micro parties do not employ paid staff (with the present exception of New Zealand First) money is still needed to maintain a bare minimum of a national party organization – usually a website. During election season it is needed to purchase pamphlets, leaflets, billboards, airtime and most importantly, nourishment for the foot soldiers and true believers of the cause. The spirit may be more than willing, but if the stomach is empty….
2. Leadership: Ordinarily, leadership only needs to be stable, but in the world of micro parties, one additional factor must be present – charisma. Without charismatic leadership, a party cannot ever hope to achieve an electoral breakthrough. This partly explains why the Bill and Ben Party was able to achieve a modest success, despite completely lacking policies, money and organization. The benefits of stable leadership are self evident, parties which descend into in-fighting every 2 months will never go anywhere.
3. Organization: At bare minimum, a party needs a means of keeping in touch with it’s members and a way of getting information out to the wider public. A website usually fulfills this function, sometimes a blog or forum is used but it is almost always online. A handy way of knowing if a party is still alive and actually serious about getting into Parliament is to check how often updated their online presence is. If a party hasn’t updated since the election (*cough Kiwi Party cough*) or hasn’t actually managed to put a website up (* The Pacific Party*) then it’s probably dead, or on it’s way to death. Any serious micro party will also be putting up yearly conferences where a handful of deadly serious and earnest folks will turn up and the conversation will inevitably turn to how “The ineluctable historical dialectic is guaranteed once more by the backstabbing actions of the lickspittle running dogs of the petty-bourgeoisie in undermining the dictatorship of the proletariat.” No, I don’t know what that means either.
4. Media: Overlaps with organization. If a party wants to get elected, it needs to be either well organized enough to have branches in every small town and suburb brining their message out. A feat that even the two big parties can’t achieve or it needs media exposure. If Money, Organization, Policies are the firewood and Leadership is the fuel, then media is the oxygen. Without enough oxygen, the fire won’t be able to get bigger, eventually burning out. The Media of Radio, Newspaper, TV and increasingly the Internet are needed to keep the party’s messages constantly out to the public. The lack of media interest in the micro parties because they’re unlikely to succeed creates a cycle where the micro parties fail because they can’t get media attention.
5. Policies: Remember kids, it’s not about having good policies. It’s about having the perception of good policies. Ironically negating what some micro parties believe to be their greatest strengths. The image based reality of the modern world makes this factor the least important of all the five factors.