An organisation that's encouraging minor party voters to rally together for the election, has been the subject of complaints received by the Electoral Commission.
On its own website, Voters United describes itself as "everyday voting New Zealanders" and says it is self-funded and not affiliated with any political party.
The 2020 general election saw minor parties achieve 225,000 votes in total but returned no seats in Parliament.
New Zealand First were the highest polling minor party with 75,021 votes (2.6% of the total vote) followed by The Opportunities Party with 43,449 (1.5%), both of which fell well short of the 5% threshold.
Keith Buckley founded the organisation and says they want to educate voters about the intricacies of the MMP electoral system.
"We're not telling you how to vote, what we're trying to do is illustrate the consequences of their vote," he told 1News.
Buckley says they are not naive, and what they're trying to do will be "very difficult".
"If (minor) parties won't unite, perhaps the voters can."
Voters United periodically run polls of minor parties - specifically excluding the mainstream parties.
1News is aware of flyers being distributed around the Kāpiti Coast, in which they "encourage our members to unite their party vote behind the party that is leading our final membership pole(sic)".
The flyer doesn't come with a promoter statement, as per Electoral Commission rules for election advertisement, although it's not entirely clear whether the flyer is classed as advertisement or not.
Not including a promoter statement is an offence which could lead to a fine of up to $40,000.
In a response to a 1News query, the Electoral Commission say they get "a lot of enquiries and complaints about advertising and other election related materials" in the lead up to an election.
Specifically on Voters United, a commission spokesperson confirmed they had received complaints about their flyer and their website "regarding whether they should be considered election advertising".
They have requested more information before making a decision on the complaint.
Buckley acknowledged the commission had been in touch, and that they would look at their future material, and intend to comply with any requests from the commission.
TOP and New Zealand First are among the minor parties listed on the website, although TOP are not actively involved. The Voters United website reads "we regret to say that at this stage TOP will not be a part of the Voters United initiative".
A TOP spokesperson said: "The Opportunities Party is an independent political party that isn't looking to be affiliated with other organisations or coalitions."
1News has reached out to New Zealand First, but have yet to receive a response at time of publication.
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