The New Conservative Party has not been invited to take part in the Election debates on TVNZ. When a member of New Conservative wrote to TVNZ to ask why an invitation had not been received this is the response that they received.
The Multi-party Debate criteria for inclusion is as follows:
The leaders of registered parties currently represented in Parliament.
2.The leaders of registered parties not represented in Parliament that score 3% in at least one 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton poll in the six months prior to the debate.
3. The leaders of registered parties where the leader has been an MP, or party has been represented, in either/both of the past two Parliaments.
Parties that currently qualify under the criteria and who are invited to 1 NEWS’ Multi Party debate are Labour, National, NZ First, The Green Party, Act, Advance New Zealand and the Maori Party.
There will be a 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton poll published prior to the Multi Party debate allowing another opportunity for parties to qualify under the revised debate criteria.
Kind regards,
The team at 1 NEWS.
According to those stated requirements, the Maori Party should not have been invited to join the debates as they do not appear to meet any of the above criteria. Why then have they been included and New Conservative excluded?
When this question was put to the team at One News the following response was received…
lt is interesting to note that the debate criteria has been revised as earlier this year it was reported that the Maori Party would not be able to take part under the the original criteria.
In an announcement today, TVNZ said that its multi-party debate will include NZ First, the Green Party, and Act – all of whom are currently represented in parliament. But other parties that have turned up in the polls this year will not be invited, including the Maori Party, New Conservatives, and The Opportunities Party.
thespinoff.co.nz/politics/04-08-2020/minor-parties-hit-out-at-exclusion-from-tvnz-multi-party-debate/
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