The Ethnic Minority Party was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

political party which focused on

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

n voters, particularly

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

ns.

History

The party was formed on 2 April 1996, and hoped to take advantage of the benefits given to smaller parties by the new MMP electoral system. It was organised and led by Robert Hum, an accountant and immigrant to New Zealand from

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. The party's foundation came as the anti-immigration

New Zealand First New Zealand First ( mi, Aotearoa Tuatahi), commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a nationalist and populist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Winst ...

party made significant gains in the polls. In the 1996 elections, it stood a list of eleven candidates, and received 0.12% of the vote. During the election there were ballot paper mistakes confusing the Ethnic Minority Party with the

Asia Pacific United Party The Asia Pacific United Party was a New Zealand political party serving the country's Asian and Pacific Islander populations. History It was formed in anticipation of the MMP electoral system, which made it easier for smaller parties to be electe ...

. Both Chinese and Indian New Zealanders were the bulk of the party supporters initially, but by the election's end it had gained much support from Korean and Filipino voters as well. Aditya Prakash, an Auckland cardiac surgeon, took over the leadership from Hum after the 1996 election. Prakash stated that Ethnic Minority were aiming to field candidates in the next local body elections in 1998. However, in April 1998, the Ethnic Minority Party was deregistered by the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

after it decided to merge into the

United New Zealand United New Zealand was a centrist political party in New Zealand founded in 1995. It merged with the Christian-based Future New Zealand party to form the United Future New Zealand party in 2000. History Formation United was founded on 28 June 1 ...

party. At the 1999 election, many Ethnic Minority Party candidates were in high positions on the United's list. However, United won only a single seat, leaving the Ethnic Minority candidates outside Parliament. Later, United merged with

Future New Zealand The Christian Democrat Party of New Zealand was a Christian socially conservative political party established in 1995. It contested the 1996 general election as part of the Christian Coalition with the Christian Heritage Party. It changed it ...

to create the modern

United Future United Future New Zealand, usually known as United Future, was a centrist political party in New Zealand. The party was in government between 2005 and 2017, first alongside Labour (2005–2008) and then supporting National (2008–2017). Uni ...

, and the Ethnic Minority influence has been considerably diluted.

References

Political parties established in 1996 1996 establishments in New Zealand Defunct political parties in New Zealand Political parties with year of disestablishment missing Political parties of minorities {{NewZealand-party-stub