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Electoral Act 1993

The House of Representatives - Qualifications of candidates and members

47: Registered electors may be members, unless disqualified

You could also call this:

"You can be an MP if you're on the voting list, unless you're not allowed."

Illustration for Electoral Act 1993

You can be a member of Parliament if you are registered to vote in an electoral district. This means you can stand as a candidate and be elected as a member of Parliament for any electoral district, or you can be on a party list as mentioned in section 127. You must be registered to vote to be eligible.

If you are not allowed to register to vote, you cannot be a candidate or a member of Parliament. This is an important rule that applies to everyone.

To be a candidate or a member of Parliament, you must also be a New Zealand citizen, regardless of your registration status.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM308518.

Topics:
Government and voting > Elections
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46: Electoral districts for and polling in Chatham Islands, or

"Voting areas for the Chatham Islands in New Zealand elections"

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47A: Certain persons disqualified from candidacy, or

"Some jobs stop you from being an MP, like running elections or making voter lists."

Part 3The House of Representatives
Qualifications of candidates and members

47Registered electors may be members, unless disqualified

  1. Subject to the provisions of this Act, every person who is registered as an elector of an electoral district, but no other person, is qualified to be a candidate and to be elected a member of Parliament, whether for that electoral district, any other electoral district or as a consequence of the inclusion of that person’s name in a party list submitted pursuant to section 127.

  2. Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1), if a person is disqualified for registration as an elector, that person shall not be qualified to be a candidate or to be elected.

  3. Regardless of anything in subsection (1), a person is not qualified to be a candidate or to be elected unless he or she is a New Zealand citizen.

Notes
  • Section 47(3): substituted, on , by section 8(1) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2002 (2002 No 1).