The New Zealand Liberal Party was a

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party that was formed to stand candidates in the 1963 general election. It was defunct after the 1966 general election, which it did not stand candidates for.

History

At the election, "the Liberals, with over twenty candidates, collected only 1 per cent of the vote, although they caused the National Party a little concern by drawing financial support from some farmers in Canterbury." The Liberal Party argued the National government was not doing enough to promote private enterprise, but made little influence on the election and did not fulfill expectations that they would

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the National Party's vote. The Liberal Party had five main policy platforms it campaigned on: #The abolition of personal

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, death duties and gift duties #The reduction of government spending by £50 million #Proposed increases in personal savings, including compulsory saving by those under 21 years old #The discontinuation of monopolies #To establish an upper house of parliament and a written constitution The number of candidates put forward was 23, and they attracted 10,339 votes (0.9%). The electorates were: , , , , ,

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, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and . The highest number of votes for any Liberal candidate was Invercargill (1,064 votes), then Wallace (828 votes). Invercargill was contested by the party leader Ronald MacGregor Hutton-Potts. Every single Liberal candidate lost their deposit. In 1965 one of the founders of the party and chairman of the party executive, businessman Alexander Athol Mackintosh, led a small ticket of three Liberal candidates for the

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at that years civic election. All were unsuccessful. The Liberal Party also contemplated standing a candidate at the 1967 Fendalton by-election, though the party executive ultimately decided against it.

References

{{Historic New Zealand political parties Political parties established in 1962 1962 establishments in New Zealand Liberal 2 Political parties with year of disestablishment missing Liberal parties in New Zealand