New parties, less candidates this year

STUFF.CO.NZ: Six new parties will contest the election, but overall there are 58 fewer candidates than in 2005, according to an official list released today by electoral officials.

Yesterday was the closure of nominations day - the deadline by which parties must submit their lists to officials, or in the case of independent candidates their personal details.

The Chief Electoral Office today published a list of the 19 registered parties contesting the election and the 681 individual candidates.

Six parties will contest the election for the first time - the Residents Action Movement, the Bill and Ben Party, the Family Party, the Kiwi Party, the New Zealand Pacific Party and the Workers Party.

The number of individual candidates is less than the 739 who contested the 2005 election. Of the electorate candidates, 35 are standing as independents or for unregistered parties.

List only candidates number 160, while 88 are only standing in an electorate.

Wellington Central has the highest number of candidates, with 14, while Hauraki-Waikato, Waiariki and Te Tai Hauauru are the lowest with just two.

Men outnumber women by more than two to one with 488 male candidates and 193 women.