Although it is never acknowledged on any ballot paper, elections for the House of Representatives and some organs of local government are fought to a very large extent on the basis of party affiliations. Since 1946 all seats in the House of Representatives have been won by supporters of the two main political parties, and these parties also substantially predominate in elections of the more important borough councils, harbour boards, education boards, and electric power boards. In local body elections, however, other party affiliations and independent candidates are more common and more successful than in elections to the House of Representatives. In private bodies it is most unusual for elections to be influenced by the national political parties, or, except in cases of internal controversy, by anything other than personal affiliations.

by Donald Edgar Paterson, B.A., LL.M.(N.Z.), LL.M., J.S.D.(YALE), Lecturer in Jurisprudence and Constitutional Law, Victoria University of Wellington.