The politics of New Zealand function within a framework of an independent unitary parliamentary representative democracy. The system of government is based on the Westminster system,and the legal system is modelled on the common law of England. New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy in which King Charles III is the sovereign and head of state,while his prime minister serves as the head of government.
Territorial authorities are the second tier of local government in New Zealand,below regional councils. There are 67 territorial authorities:13 city councils,53 district councils and the Chatham Islands Council. District councils serve a combination of rural and urban communities,while city councils administer the larger urban areas. Five territorial authorities also perform the functions of a regional council and thus are unitary authorities. The Chatham Islands Council is a sui generis territorial authority that is similar to a unitary authority.
Winston Raymond Peters is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the leader of New Zealand First since its foundation in 1993. Peters served as the 13th deputy prime minister of New Zealand from 1996 to 1998 and 2017 to 2020,the minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2008 and 2017 to 2020,and the treasurer of New Zealand from 1996 to 1998. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 1981,1984 to 2008 and 2011 to 2020.
Christopher Joseph Carter is a former New Zealand Labour Party and independent Member of the New Zealand Parliament. He was a senior Cabinet Minister in the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand,serving lastly as Minister of Education,Minister Responsible for the Education Review Office and Minister of Ethnic Affairs. He was the Member of Parliament for the Te Atatu electorate,where he was first elected in 1993. He did not win re-election in 1996,but won a new and expanded Te Atatu seat in 1999. In 2010,he was suspended from the Labour Party caucus following a dispute with party leader Phil Goff,shortly afterwards he became an independent MP. He was expelled by the Labour Party for breaching the Party's constitution in bringing the Party in disrepute,on 11 October 2010. In September 2011 Carter resigned from Parliament following his appointment to a United Nations position in Afghanistan where he served for 4 years. In 2015 he was appointed to head UN operations in Rakhine State in Myanmar where he served for 3 years. In 2018 he rejoined the New Zealand Labour Party and stood for election as a Labour Party representative in the 2019 New Zealand local elections. Carter was elected and appointed as Chairperson of the Henderson Massey Local Board with 11,250 votes. He also won election in 2019 as one of the seven elected board members of the Waitemata District Health Board with 14,593 votes. Both positions have three year terms.
Philip Bruce Goff is a New Zealand politician and diplomat. He currently serves as High Commissioner of New Zealand to the United Kingdom since 2023. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1981 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2016. He served as leader of the Labour Party and leader of the Opposition between 11 November 2008 and 13 December 2011.
This is a timeline of the history of New Zealand that includes only events deemed to be of principal importance –for less important events click the year heading or refer to List of years in New Zealand.
Nanaia Cybele Mahuta is a New Zealand Labour Party politician who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hauraki-Waikato and Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2020.
John Struan Robertson is a former New Zealand politician and later a New Zealand government-appointed Commissioner (2013).
Joseph Williams was a Cook Islands politician and physician who served as Prime Minister of the Cook Islands for four months in 1999. He is credited with having worked to prevent the spread of the tropical disease lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis). He principally resided in Auckland,New Zealand,where he was medical director of the Mt Wellington Integrated Family Health Centre.
The 49th New Zealand Parliament was elected at the 2008 election. It comprised 122 members,including an overhang of two seats caused by the Māori Party having won two more electorate seats than its share of the party vote would otherwise have given it. The Parliament served from 2008 until the November 2011 election.
New Zealand has a unitary system of government in which the authority of the central government defines sub-national entities. Local government in New Zealand has only the powers conferred upon it by the New Zealand Parliament. In general,local authorities are responsible for enabling democratic local decision-making and promoting the social,economic,environmental,and cultural well-being of their communities,as well as more specific functions for which they have delegated authority.
The 51st New Zealand Parliament was elected at the 2014 general election. This Parliament consists of 121 members and was in place from September 2014 until August 2017,followed by the 2017 New Zealand general election. Following the final vote count John Key was able to continue to lead the Fifth National Government.
David Breen Seymour is a New Zealand politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Epsom and leader of ACT New Zealand since 2014.
Willow-Jean Prime is a New Zealand politician who was elected to the New Zealand Parliament at the 2017 general election as a list representative of the New Zealand Labour Party. At the 2020 election,she won the electorate of Northland by 163 votes,the closest election of the 2020 cycle.
Kieran Michael McAnulty is a New Zealand Labour Party politician. First elected to parliament in 2017,he is a Cabinet minister and the Member of Parliament for the Wairarapa electorate. Formerly the Chief Government Whip,McAnulty is now the Minister of Local Government and Minister for Emergency Management,among other portfolios.
The Mayor of Far North officiates over the Far North District of New Zealand's North Island. The district has been administered by a district council since 1989.
The mayor of Kaipara officiates over the Kaipara District of New Zealand's North Island. The current mayor is Craig Jepson.
The Water Services Reform Programme is a public infrastructure restructuring programme launched by the Sixth Labour Government to centralise the management of water supply and sanitation in New Zealand. It originally proposed shifting control of stormwater,drinking water and wastewater management from the country's 67 local councils to several new publicly-owned regional entities by July 2024. Details of the proposed reforms were announced in October 2021. The Three Waters reforms were criticised by several mayors and the opposition National and ACT parties.
The 2022 New Zealand local elections were triennial elections held in New Zealand on Saturday 8 October 2022. Voting began by postal vote on 16 September and ended at noon on 8 October 2022.
