1.1 Introduction

Individuals or groups (other than candidates and parties or persons involved in the affairs of a candidate or party) who are interested in being part of the electoral process are able to promote election advertisements for the 2011 General Election. The key messages are:

• All promoters are subject to the requirement in the Electoral Act 1993 to include their name and address on any election advertisement.
• All promoters also need to obtain the authorisation of any party or candidate prior to publishing an advertisement in their support.
• Promoters who spend, or intend to spend over $12,000 (including GST) on election advertising during the regulated period (which starts on 26 August 2011 and ends on 25 November 2011) will be required to register with the Electoral Commission.

Who is a promoter

A promoter is a person or group on whose initiative or instigation an election advertisement is published, or is to be published.

A person who simply publishes an election advertisement on behalf of the person or group that has initiated the advertisement is not a promoter.

Who can promote elections advertisements

The Electoral Act provides that only the following can promote an election advertisement:

• a party secretary,
• a candidate,
• a registered promoter, or
• an unregistered promoter.

This part of the handbook provides guidance on who can be a registered or an unregistered promoter for the purposes of promoting election advertisements.

Registered and unregistered promoters are also referred to as third party promoters throughout this guidance.

1.2 Unregistered promoters

An individual or group may be an unregistered promoter for the purposes of the general election provided that they do not incur advertising expenses exceeding $12,000 (including GST) in relation to election advertisements published during the regulated period. For more information on what is an election advertisement see Part 4.

There is no requirement for an unregistered promoter to disclose how much has been spent on election advertising. However, unregistered promoters are required to keep records of the costs incurred in relation to election advertisements published during the regulated period for verification purposes until 26 November 2014.

The following cannot be an unregistered promoter:

• a constituency candidate,
• a list candidate,
• a party,
• a person involved in the administration of:
  • the affairs of a candidate in relation to the candidate’s election campaign,
  • or the affairs of a party.

Constituency candidate

A constituency candidate includes any person who has made their intention to stand as a candidate at the general election publically known i.e. notifying their intention to the press or at a public meeting, or who has been nominated to stand as an electorate candidate and has not withdrawn their nomination.

Constituency candidates are not covered by the rules for third party promoters as there are separate rules for constituency candidates and election advertising in the Electoral Act. Information on the rules regarding candidates at the general election can be found in the Electoral Commission’s Candidate Handbook – 2011 General Election and Referendum.

List candidate

A list candidate means any person whose name is specified in a party list submitted to the Electoral Commission in accordance with section 127 of the Electoral Act 1993. As a list candidate is standing on behalf of a party and parties are subject to separate rules (see below), list candidates are not covered by the third party promoter rules.

Party

Party means for the purposes of the election advertising rules, a political party registered by the Electoral Commission in accordance with Part 4 of the Electoral Act.

As there are separate rules for registered parties regarding election advertising in the Electoral Act, registered parties are not covered by the third party promoter rules. Information on the rules for parties at the general election can be found in the Electoral Commission’s Party Secretary Handbook – 2011 General Election and Referendum.

Unregistered political parties that promote election advertisements will be third party promoters for the purposes of the Electoral Act.

Person involved in the administration of the candidate or party’s affairs

Election advertisements published or distributed by a person involved in the administration of a candidate or party’s affairs must act under the authority of the candidate or the party secretary who is the promoter of the advertisement.

1.3 Registered promoters

Any individual or group who is a third party promoter who spends, or intends to spend, over $12,000 (including GST) on election advertising during the regulated period must register with the Electoral Commission.

The following cannot be a registered promoter:

• a constituency candidate,
• a list candidate,
• a party,
• an overseas person,
• a person involved in the administration of:
• the affairs of a candidate in relation to the candidate’s election campaign, or
• the affairs of the party.

The list of who cannot be a registered promoter is the same as that provided for unregistered promoters with the inclusion of an overseas person.

Overseas person

An overseas person means:

• an individual who resides outside of New Zealand and is not a New Zealand citizen or registered elector,
• a body corporate incorporated outside of New Zealand, or
• an unincorporated body that has its head office or principal place of business outside of New Zealand.

Since an overseas person cannot be a registered promoter for the purposes of election advertising, an overseas person may only spend up to $12,000 (including GST) on election advertising during the regulated period.