New Zealand First

New Zealand First, commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a populist and nationalist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Winston Peters, from the then-governing National Party. Peters had been the sitting Member of Parliament for Tauranga since 1984 and would use the electorate as the base for New Zealand First until consecutive defeats by National Party candidates in 2005 and 2008. His party has formed coalition governments with both major political parties in New Zealand: first with the National Party from 1996 to 1998 and then with the Labour Party from 2005 to 2008 and from 2017 to 2020. Peters has served on two occasions as deputy prime minister. New Zealand First takes a broadly centrist and interventionist position on economic issues and a socially conservative position on moral issues. The party distinguishes itself from the mainstream political establishment through its use of populist rhetoric, and supports binding referendums for major social and political change. The party is also anti-immigration and anti-globalisation, while also supportive of protectionism and pensioners' interests. The party's support base is mostly composed of middle-aged to elderly, rural and Māori voters. The party entered the New Zealand House of Representatives shortly after its formation in 1993. New Zealand First had 17 members of parliament (MPs) at its peak, following the 1996 New Zealand general election, first mixed-member proportional representation election, though by the end of that term the New Zealand First caucus was 9 MPs due to internal conflict over the coalition government with the New Zealand National Party. It left parliament following the 2008 New Zealand general election in which it failed to gain enough party votes to retain seats. However, in the 2011 New Zealand general election, New Zealand First gained 6.59% of the total party vote, entitling it to eight MPs. The party increased its number of MPs to eleven at the 2014 New Zealand general election. During the 2017 election, the party's number of MPs dropped to nine members. In the weeks following the 2017 election, New Zealand First formed a coalition government with the Labour Party. In the 2020 election New Zealand First's share of the party vote fell to 2.6%, with all incumbent MPs, including Peters, losing their seats in Parliament.