The Kiwi Party
On 28 January 2008, Future New Zealand was renamed The Kiwi Party. Baldock became sole party leader, while Copeland concentrated primarily on parliamentary matters. Baldock successfully collected 310,000 signatures against the Child Discipline Act, which forced a referendum on the issue. Baldock has proposed giving parents the right to strike their children with implements stating, "I'm not opposed to the wooden spoon or ruler because you can control things with that better than you can with an open hand."
In the 2008 general election, Baldock stood for the Tauranga electorate, but came a distant fourth, with approximately five percent of the vote. The Kiwi Party also performed poorly, receiving 0.54% of the party vote nationwide.
Undaunted by its poor performance, the Kiwi Party held a conference in Christchurch in March 2009, and announced its intention to contest the 2011 general election. As The Family Party and New Zealand Pacific Party had been dissolved, it would have been the only fundamentalist party in the contest. As of September 2010, Baldock was still Kiwi Party leader. However, it was announced on 14 October 2011 that Kiwi Party members would not be running candidates for the 2011 election, instead standing for the Conservative Party, of which Baldock is ranked at number 3 on the party list.
Read more about this topic: Larry Baldock
Famous quotes containing the word party:
“When the doctrine of allegiance to party can utterly up-end a man’s moral constitution and make a temporary fool of him besides, what excuse are you going to offer for preaching it, teaching it, extending it, perpetuating it? Shall you say, the best good of the country demands allegiance to party? Shall you also say it demands that a man kick his truth and his conscience into the gutter, and become a mouthing lunatic, besides?”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)