Electoral Act 1993

Registration of political parties and party logos - Registration of political parties

70: Cancellation of registration

You could also call this:

"When a political party breaks rules or doesn't have enough members, it can lose its registration."

The Electoral Commission can cancel a political party's registration if someone from the party asks them to, as stated in section 63(1). You need to be one of the people listed in that section to make the request. The Electoral Commission will check if the request is really from the party.

If a political party has less than 500 financial members who can vote, the Electoral Commission can cancel its registration. The Commission can ask the party for a list of its members to check this.

The Electoral Commission can also cancel a party's registration if it does not follow the rules in section 67AA. When the Commission cancels a party's registration, it tells the party and the public by publishing a notice in the Gazette.

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This page was last updated on 18 July 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6011557.

Topics:

Government and voting > Elections

69A: Changes to party logos, or

"Rules about changing party logos"

70A: Cancellation of registration of party logo, or

"Stopping a political party's logo from being official"

Part 4Registration of political parties and party logos
Registration of political parties

70Cancellation of registration

The Electoral Commission shall cancel the registration of a political party at the request of one of the persons specified in section 63(1) if satisfied that the request for cancellation is made by the applicant on behalf of the party.
The provisions of section 64, with any necessary modifications, apply to every request under subsection (1).
The Electoral Commission shall cancel the registration of any political party on being satisfied that the number of current financial members of the party who are eligible to enrol as electors has fallen below 500.
For the purposes of exercising the powers conferred on it by subsection (2), the Electoral Commission may require a political party to supply to it a list of the party’s current financial members within any reasonable time that the Electoral Commission specifies.
The Electoral Commission may cancel the registration of a political party if satisfied that the party has failed to comply with section 67AA.
Where the Electoral Commission cancels the registration of any political party, it shall, as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any event not later than 10 working days after the date of the cancellation,—
give, where the cancellation was effected under subsection (1), written notice of the cancellation to both the applicant for cancellation and the secretary of the political party:
give, where the cancellation was effected under subsection (2) or (2B), written notice of the cancellation to the secretary or the last-known secretary of the political party, which written notice shall set out the reasons for the cancellation:
cause notice of the cancellation to be published in the Gazette.

Notes

Section 70(1): substituted, on 6 December 1995, by section 24 of the Electoral Amendment Act (No 2) 1995 (1995 No 61).
Section 70(1A): inserted, on 28 February 2002, by section 17(1) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2002 (2002 No 1).
Section 70(2): substituted, on 6 December 1995, by section 24 of the Electoral Amendment Act (No 2) 1995 (1995 No 61).
Section 70(2A): inserted, on 28 February 2002, by section 17(2) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2002 (2002 No 1).
Section 70(2B): inserted, on 21 March 2017, by section 18(1) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 9).
Section 70(3)(b): amended, on 21 March 2017, by section 18(2) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 9).