They’re starting at the bottom of the political system, but an emerging party has taken their first step to the top.
After six years of trying, the Opportunities Party have finally had a candidate win an election.
John Dennison, an ambulance driver, got the call last week to say he’d been elected to the Featherston Community Board, which advocates to the South Wairarapa District Council. It’s effectively the lowest rung of New Zealand’s political ladder.
TOP leader Raf Manji told Q+A’s Whena Owen he was thrilled one of the four candidates running under the party’s banner in the local elections made it.
“A number of people contacted us to ask if they could run under our brand. I mean we weren’t running a local campaign officially, but we had four candidates and John was one of them,” said Manji.
“John’s just a great guy and we’re really thrilled he’s been elected.”
Dennison himself said he was delighted with the achievement, joking, “As the first TOP person to be elected, I am expecting a Wikipedia entry".
After six years, the Opportunities Party have finally had a candidate win an election.
He intends to focus on affordable housing while on the community board.
The Opportunities Party have struggled in the nationwide polls, consistently falling under the 5% threshold needed to win seats in Parliament.
In the most recent 1News Kantar public poll, the party recorded 1%, though in previous surveys conducted by a range of pollsters they have been higher.
To counteract that, Manji said he would be running to win the Canterbury seat of Ilam.
After several terms as a Christchurch city councillor, Manji ran in the 2017 as an independent in Ilam, coming second with 23% of the vote.
The seat is currently held by Labour, after Sarah Pallett won it off the long-serving Gerry Brownlee in the red wave of 2020. Brownlee will not be attempting to win Ilam back, with National yet to select their candidate.
TOP recently announced the tax policy they will take into the 2023 election, proposing to lower income taxes and instead put a tax on land ownership.
“We’re taking the burden off incomes and putting it onto land,” said Manji, arguing that it is a major problem for New Zealand that the price of land for housing has risen too high relative to incomes.
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