The 99 MP Party was a small

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 coun ...

political party that contested the 2005 General Election. It supported a reduction of the number of

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

from 120 to 99.

History

With the

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Mixed Member Proportional Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a mixed electoral system in which votes cast are considered in local elections and also to determine overall party vote tallies, which are used to allocate additional members to produce ...

in 1996, the number of MPs rose from 99 to 120. Margaret Robertson organised a referendum in 1999 calling for the number to be reduced back to 99. Local businessman

Jack Yan Jack Yan (; born 1972) is a New Zealand publisher, designer and businessman. He is best known as the founder and publisher of '' Lucire''. He ran for mayor of Wellington in 2010, and again in 2013, but was unsuccessful in both elections. Backg ...

proposed that Robertson's campaign be turned into a political party in 2001, a decision that she agreed to the following year after finding that most parties in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

generally did not support a reduction. Robertson took initial steps toward achieving the membership number required. Yan initially served as president and designed the logo and marketing collateral, but lived in Europe in the northern summer of 2002, became less involved on his return, and was replaced. The 2002 policies were centrist to conservative, including the toughening of the

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and reforming Parliament and the select committee structure. In addition to the reduction of MP numbers, the party also supports making referendums mandatory for all constitutional changes. The Electoral Commission accepted the party's official registration on 14 April 2005. It put forward a party list of two people: Robertson and Ramasmy Ramanathan.

2005 General Election and subsequent deregistration

In the 2005 elections, the 99 MP Party gained 0.03% of the vote. Shortly afterwards, Margaret Robertson announced plans to step down. On 16 March 2006, the

Parliament of New Zealand The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand (King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by hi ...

passed the first reading of

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, Win ...

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's private members bill, to cut the number of MPs to 100. A number of parties indicated though that their support was for it to go to

select committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system) A select committee is a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues originating in the Westminster system o ...

, at which public submissions could be heard. However, but the bill was defeated at its Second Reading on 8 November 2006. , the size of parliament remains at least 120. In September 2006, the party was deregistered, having failed to provide evidence of the necessary 500 members.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:99 Mp Party Political parties established in 2005 Defunct political parties in New Zealand 2005 establishments in New Zealand 2006 disestablishments in New Zealand Political parties disestablished in 2006 Single-issue political parties in New Zealand