United Future

For other uses, see United Future (disambiguation).

United Future New Zealand
Te Rōpū Unaititi Heke Mai
LeaderPeter Dunne
(2000–2017)
Damian Light
(2017)
FounderPeter Dunne
Founded2000[1]
Dissolved14 November, 2017
Merger ofUnited New Zealand,
Future New Zealand[1]
IdeologyLiberal conservatism[2]
Christian democracy[3]
Political positionCentre[3]

United Future New Zealand,[4] usually known as United Future, was a centrist political party in New Zealand. The party was in government between 2005 and 2017, first alongside Labour (2005–2008) and then supporting National (2008–2017).

United Future was formed from the merger of the liberal party United New Zealand and Christian-dominated conservative Future New Zealand to contest the 2002 election. It was represented in the New Zealand Parliament from its foundation until September 2017. The party won eight seats in 2002; however it was reduced to three Members of Parliament in 2005. Between 2008 and 2017, United Future was solely represented in Parliament by party leader Peter Dunne, who represented the Ōhāriu electorate in Wellington. Dunne was re-elected during both the 2011 and 2014 general elections.[5][6]

In August 2017, Dunne announced his retirement from politics prior to the 2017 general election. Damian Light was appointed as the new leader on 23 August.[7] During the 2017 general election, United Future lost its sole seat in Parliament and attained only 0.1% of the party vote.[8]

In November 2017, a leaked email announced that United Future would move to dissolve after a unanimous decision by the party board to do so. On 14 November an announcement was made on the party's website signalling that the party had officially been dissolved.[9][10][11] The party was formally de-registered on 28 February 2018.[12]

  1. ^ a b Bolleyer, Nicole (2013). New Parties in Old Party Systems: Persistence and Decline in Seventeen Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 118. ISBN 9780191611582. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  2. ^ Miller, Caroline (2010). Implementing Sustainability: The New Zealand Experience. Routledge. p. 10.
  3. ^ a b Rudd, Chris (2017). Sovereignty under Siege?: Globalization and New Zealand. Routledge. p. 130. ISBN 9781351898904. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  4. ^ "Constitution of United Future New Zealand" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2013. The name of the party shall be United Future New Zealand
  5. ^ "New Zealand Parliament - Parliamentary parties". Archived from the original on 12 October 2006. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  6. ^ "Members of Parliament - New Zealand Parliament". Parliament.nz. Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  7. ^ "UnitedFuture appoints Damian Light as new leader". United Future New Zealand. 24 August 2017. Archived from the original on 21 October 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  8. ^ "2017 General Election - Official Result". New Zealand Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 7 October 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  9. ^ "UnitedFuture proud of it's [sic] history, but all good things must end". United Future. Archived from the original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  10. ^ "Dunne and Dusted: Leaked email suggests United Future to disband". newtalkzb.co.nz. Newstalk ZB. 13 November 2017. Archived from the original on 13 November 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  11. ^ Cheng, Derek (14 November 2017). "Peter Dunne: United Future's decision to disband the right call given it is no longer in Parliament". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).