page_title: Alliance (New Zealand political party)
section_title: Decline
hierarchical_section_title: Alliance (New Zealand political party) / History / Decline
caption_attribution_description: Andrew McKenzie, Victor Billot, Sarita Divis and Kay Murray
context_page_description: The Alliance was a left-wing political party in New Zealand. It was formed at the end of 1991 by the linking of four smaller parties. The Alliance positioned itself as a democratic socialist alternative to the centre-left New Zealand Labour Party. It was influential throughout the 1990s, but suffered a major setback after its founder and leader, Jim Anderton, left the party in 2002, taking with him several of its members of parliament. After the remaining MPs lost their seats in the 2002 general election, some commentators predicted the demise of the party.
  The Alliance stood candidates in the 2005 general election but won less than 1% of the party vote. It contested Auckland City Council elections under the City Vision banner, in concert with the New Zealand Labour Party and Green Party. The Alliance ran 15 electorate candidates and a total of 30 candidates on the party list in the 2008 general election, increasing its party vote marginally from that in 2005. It was deregistered at its own request on 26 May 2015.
context_section_description: In the 2002 election, the Alliance and the Progressives competed against each other. The Alliance, believing that it would struggle to reach 5% (the threshold for a party being awarded representation proportional to its support), needed to win an electorate seat to gain entry to parliament. It chose to focus on Waitakere (contested by Harré) and Tainui (contested by Willie Jackson, leader of Mana Motuhake). In both seats, however, the Alliance came second, losing each time to a Labour candidate, and so failed to gain parliamentary representation. In the list vote, the party failed to meet the threshold, gaining only 1.27% of the Party vote.
  After the election, Mana Motuhake chose to leave the Alliance. This left the Alliance without any component parties – all members are now simply members of the Alliance as a whole.
  Laila Harré stepped down as the party's leader on 30 November 2003, and was replaced by Matt McCarten, the party president who clashed with Anderton. McCarten advocated a policy which would see the Alliance focus less on electoral activity and more on playing a co-ordinating role—he has been a particularly strong advocate of working with the new Māori Party, which the Alliance had been involved with and practically supported during Tariana Turia's by-election campaign and the Maori Party launch. There was a debate within the Alliance, given the poll ratings of less than 1%, as to whether the Alliance should contest the list vote in the 2005 election, or instead only stand in electorate seats and encourage its supporters to use their list vote to support the Greens or the Māori Party. Jill Ovens, a former candidate and the new party president, was critical of McCarten's support of the Māori Party, saying that working both for the Alliance and the Māori Party at the same time represented a conflict of interest and resigned at one stage over the issue (Ovens subsequently joined the Labour Party in 2006). When no agreement could be reached on the electoral strategy McCarten and Harré disassociated themselves from the Alliance. Gerard Hehir, the outgoing General Secretary, informed the Electoral Commission that the Alliance no longer had the five hundred financial members required for registration. In late 2004 McCarten was replaced as leader by two co-leaders, Jill Ovens and Paul Piesse and the party's remaining membership voted to contest the list vote. In the 2005 election, the Alliance gained only 0.07% of the Party vote, placing 12th of the parties.
  Following its poor showing in the 2005 election, the Alliance continued after their 2005 conference with two co-leaders Paul Piesse and Len Richards.
  At the 2006 conference held in Wellington, no co-leaders were elected with the party deciding to concentrate on internal reorganisation. Victor Billot was elected President. At the 2007 national conference, held in Dunedin, two co-leaders were elected, Victor Billot and Kay Murray, with Paul Piesse returning to his former role as Party President. Speakers at the 2007 national conference included political commentator Chris Trotter and publisher Jack Yan. The Alliance stated its intention to run a list of candidates and electorate candidates in the 2008 general election. In April 2008 the party had between 500 and 600 members.
  During the process of regroupment since the 2005 election the Alliance has reaffirmed its role as a broad left-wing political party committed to contesting both electorate seats and a party list. The party continues to release an annual alternative budget, prepared by the Alliance spokesperson on tax, the academic and intelligence researcher Jim Flynn. In 2008 the Alliance adopted a new logo designed by Jack Yan & Associates to signal the changes it has undergone and its intention for renewal and rebuilding.
  In the 2008 election the Alliance fielded candidates in all major New Zealand centres, contesting 15 electorate seats and running a party list of 30 candidates under the co-leaders Kay Murray and Andrew McKenzie. The party managed to marginally improve its party vote to 1,721, amounting to
caption: Alliance candidates for the 2008 election: Andrew McKenzie (number two on the party list), Victor Billot (number three), Sarita Divis (number nine) and Kay Murray (number one)
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