How to become a candidate at a general election

There are two types of candidate under the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system:

• electorate candidates, who become members of Parliament (MPs) by winning electorate votes
• list candidates, who are on registered party lists and can become MPs through the party vote.

You can contest an electorate and be on a party list at the same election. However, you can only contest one electorate and be on one party list for each election.

To be a candidate you must be enrolled to vote and a New Zealand citizen by the relevant nomination deadline.

If you were born overseas, you will be asked to provide evidence with your nomination that you are a New Zealand citizen (such as a certificate of citizenship or a copy of your New Zealand passport).

You can contest any electorate, even if it's not the one you're enrolled in. You can contest either a Māori or a general electorate no matter your race or ethnicity.

The individual nomination form must be completed by:

• independent candidates
• candidates for unregistered parties and
• candidates for registered parties not making a bulk nomination. 

Tell us on the nomination form whether you’re representing a party or are an independent. If you are an independent candidate the word INDEPENDENT will appear under your name on the ballot paper.

If you’re representing an unregistered party, you will need to provide proof that:

• the party exists, such as the party constitution
• you can represent the party, such as a letter from the party secretary.

If we are satisfied that your unregistered party’s name is not indecent, offensive, excessively long, misleading or confusing, it will appear under your name on the ballot paper.

You have to be nominated by two voters enrolled in the electorate you want to contest. You cannot nominate yourself. Your nominators can only nominate one candidate at the election.

A $300 deposit must be paid with an individual nomination.

Strict nomination deadlines apply, which cannot be extended.

Only registered parties can make a bulk nomination of electorate candidates. This is where the party secretary nominates all the electorate candidates representing the party by lodging a bulk nomination schedule with the Electoral Commission.

Contact your party secretary if you are being bulk nominated to stand as an electorate candidate.

Only registered parties can stand list candidates. Party list candidates are lodged with the Electoral Commission by the party secretary.

Contact your party secretary if you are a list candidate.

We will publish candidate and party names (or independent) on vote.nz following the close of nominations. We do not publish any other candidate information.

We may release candidate telephone and email details after the close of nominations on request from media or anyone else for other candidate related purposes, unless a candidate has asked for these details to be withheld.

Security advice for candidates contesting the 2023 General Election was put together by a sub-group of the Major Events Security Committee to provide visibility of potential privacy and security issues, and to explain mitigations that can be put in place.

Security advice for 2023 Election Candidates