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Electoral Act 1993

Election petitions

230: Election petitions to High Court

You could also call this:

"Challenging an election result in the High Court"

Illustration for Electoral Act 1993

If you want to challenge an election result, you can take your complaint to the High Court. You can do this if you voted in the election, or if you think you should have been elected. You can also do this if you were a candidate in the election. You will need to fill out a special form, called a petition, which says what you are complaining about. The person who was elected, and who you are complaining about, will be the respondent to your petition. If your complaint is about the Electoral Commission, they will also be a respondent. You need to sign the petition and file it at the High Court nearest to where the election was held. The court will then send a copy of your petition to the Electoral Commission.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM310429.

Topics:
Government and voting > Elections
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231: Time for presentation of election petition, or

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Part 8Election petitions

230Election petitions to High Court

  1. An election petition to which section 229(3) applies may be presented to the High Court by 1 or more of the following persons:

  2. a person who voted or had a right to vote at the election:
    1. a person claiming to have had a right to be elected or returned at the election:
      1. a person alleging himself or herself to have been a constituency candidate at the election.

        1. The member whose election or return is complained of shall be the respondent to the petition, and, if the petition complains of the conduct of the Electoral Commission, the Electoral Commission must also be a respondent.

        2. The petition shall be in such form and state such matters as are prescribed by rules of court, and be signed by the petitioner or all the petitioners if more than 1.

        3. The petition shall be presented by filing it in the registry of the High Court nearest to the place where the election was held. The Registrar of the court shall forthwith send a copy of the petition to the Electoral Commission.

        4. The petition shall be served as nearly as may be in the manner in which a statement of claim is served, or in such other manner as may be prescribed by rules of court.

        Notes
        • Section 230(2): amended, on , by section 107(1) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 9).
        • Section 230(4): amended, on , by section 107(2) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 9).