The candidates in the upcoming ballot for TOP's two positions: Member Representative and Parliamentary Leader are officially live!

TOP’s election for a member elected Board member and Parliamentary Leader (also on the Board) will run from 6th November to 30th November.

Have you received an email confirming your membership? Great! If you haven't received it, please check your spam folder. 

If it isn't there, we might not have you as a listed member or have the wrong email for you. 

Remember, to vote in the TOP elections you must be a member!

Key Dates:

  • November 6th, 12pm: Nominations Open. Candidates can campaign as soon as they submit their nominations and they are confirmed by the Elections Team.
  • November 13th, 12pm: Nominations close.
  • November 15th, 8pm: Candidates are declared.
  • November 29th: Final day for memberships for election
  • December 1st: Campaigning ends. Balloting opens.
  • December 8th: Balloting closes and winners are announced.

Please note: The date and venue of the debate are still to be confirmed.

What are the roles?

The Leader and the Member Representative are on TOP’s Board.

Being on TOP's Board means being at the table when decisions are made. You'll be making decisions about how TOP operates, markets policy and campaigns, and craft the vision that TOP needs going forward.

  • Member Representative

This role is to represent the members at a Board level - as voted in by members, you will be working and engaging to make sure their views, ideas and thoughts have a conduit to the Board - democracy in action.

  • Leader

The Parliamentary Leader of The Opportunities Party will be the voice of the Party. You’ll be actively enrolled in holding the Government of the day to account and communicating our policies and our values to the general public.

Nominations:

To be nominated for either the Member Representative or Leader Board positions, a member has to be nominated by two other TOP members and signed by the nominee before 2pm, 13th November.

Members can only nominate one candidate for each position

We simply need their names and phone numbers to verify their member status.

All nominations or queries please contact the Elections Team.

Information for voters (Members):

We’ll be releasing information on how to vote specifically using Horizon State - our digital ballot provider.

TOP’s preferential vote will occur by email with unique codes sent before balloting opens.

Codes will be tied to current membership data - in order to vote, a member will be to be paid up by 25th November.

Proxy-voting by phone with information verification will be available.

  • Not sure if you’re a TOP member or have other questions (like phone voting)? Please contact the Elections Team.
  • Not a TOP member? Join today here.
  • Discuss the Elections with other volunteers here.

Information for Leadership Candidates:

Each nominee will need to submit:

  • A blurb on why you should be Leader (500 words max).
  • A picture of yourself.

Optional:

  • A campaign video to be hosted on the website for members to view (5 minutes max).

Nominees for Leadership only may also be expected to travel to a major centre of NZ to debate other candidates for the November 30th debate.

Members can only nominate one candidate for each position

All nominations or queries please contact the Elections Team.

Information for Member Candidates:

As a nominee you will need to submit:

  • A blurb on why you should be Member Representative (500 words max).
  • A picture of yourself.

Optional:

  • A video to be hosted on the website for members to view (5 minutes max).

Member representatives will not be having debates.

Members can only nominate one candidate for each position

All nominations or queries please contact the Elections Team.

What opportunities will Candidates have to engage with the membership?:

  • We’ll be sending email prompts for the membership to view the website where we’ll keep the leadership videos and candidates blurbs (From the 13th).
  • Leadership candidates will also be able to present their case to the membership and engage with other candidates in the scheduled debates.
  • Candidates can also actively campaign on social media and TOP’s internal communications team.

For all enquiries into how this works, please contact the Elections Team.

Campaign Rules:

Candidate will be free to conduct their campaign within the campaign period (6th November to 30th November).

The Board through the Elections Team will oversee any campaigning and retain an overall discretion to remove any candidates, should the instance arise.

Questions for Leadership or Member candidates can be submitted here.