New Zealand First Party

It won 6.08% of the party vote and eight of 123 seats in 2023 and is a partner in the coalition with National and ACT. Shane Jones became deputy leader in September 2025. It is named in the market on which party wins most seats in the 2026 New Zealand general election.

History

Peters founded the party in 1993 after leaving National and winning the Tauranga by-election. It took 13% and 17 seats in 1996, its peak, and joined a coalition with National, which ended in 1998. It won 10.38% in 2002, 5.72% in 2005, and fell below the 5% threshold with no seats in 2008 and again in 2020 (2.6%). It governed with Labour in 2005-2008 on confidence and supply and in a full coalition in 2017-2020, and returned with eight seats in 2023.

Positions

Wikipedia describes the party as right-wing populist, socially conservative and economically nationalist, with support for binding referendums. Its stated policies include a NZ$1.2 billion Regional Infrastructure Fund, cutting annual immigration, ending vaccine mandates, halting work on the He Puapua report, a tough-on-crime approach, opposition to raising the superannuation age above 65, and the English Language Act 2026. Its coalition partners are National and ACT.

Summarised automatically from the linked sources. Wikipedia