Liz Gunn’s party fails to register nearly all candidates

Tuesday, 19 September 2023

Liz Gunn says she takes full responsibility for the failure to register all the party’s candidates.

The political party founded by conspiracy theorist Liz Gunn has failed to register nearly all of its candidates meant to contest the upcoming election, after a frantic attempt to register went “terribly wrong”.

It is a major blow for the party, and means if it crosses the 5% threshold — its only plausible path to Parliament — it would not have enough MPs to seat.

Gunn, a former broadcaster turned conspiracy content creator, registered the party last month. Its platform draws heavily on popular issues within the so-called “freedom movement”, including opposition to globalism and the embrace of culture war grievances.

While it has not appeared in any national political polls, NZ LOYAL enjoys a small base of passionate support. Unscientific polls by Voters United shows it is the favoured party of the freedom movement, just ahead of New Zealand First.

Any drop in support for NZ LOYAL could prove beneficial for New Zealand First, which polls show is on the cusp of the 5% threshold.

Although NZ LOYAL has publicly announced at least 15 candidates, the final party list confirmed by the Electoral Commission (EC) includes just three names — one of whom is Gunn.

Brenton Faithfull, pictured in 2014, withdrew his candidacy so he could sign the documents required to register candidates.

One of those three has since left, leaving the party with just two list candidates.

In a tearful apology video posted on the party’s website, Gunn took responsibility for the mistake and said it was the result of “human error”.

“I put one of our team in a position where they were under too much pressure, and they should have had someone looking over their shoulder and helping them. It is fully my responsibility,” she said.

“For those of you who want to sink the knives in further, I give you this part of my body - sink them in here,” she said, gesturing to her torso. “You cannot hurt me any more than you have done.”

The party’s electoral candidates can still stand, but would need to win their electorates to sit in Parliament. Among them are former Horowhenua mayor Michael Feyen, and Jeanette Wilson, a self-proclaimed psychic healer who has said she can heal people by channelling the spirit of a dead Portuguese surgeon named Dr Augusto de Almeida.

Psychic healer Jeanette Wilson was not officially registered to the party list.

The specific reason for the failure to register the candidates remains unclear, but in the video, Gunn described a frantic series of events in which the documentation was filed at the last minute.

One of the party’s electoral candidates, Brenton Faithfull — a funeral director who gained international prominence for claiming most of his clients had died following vaccination against COVID-19 — withdrew his candidacy so he could act as a Justice of the Peace to sign the documents.

“It was an act of a soldier in war time, in a way, throwing himself on his own sword,” Gunn described.

The documents, however, were incomplete. It means Faithfull is neither on the list or standing in an electorate.

Despite the setback, Gunn said she was continuing the campaign, and encouraged supporters to still vote for the party.

There was a silver lining amid “the horrors I was going through”, she said — her legal advice was if the party crossed the 5% threshold, the empty seats would remain vacant.

“[Y]ou will have fewer politicians if you give NZ LOYAL the party vote,” she said.

“Those party votes for NZ LOYAL that look as if they are now a throwaway vote in fact turn into a giant, one fingered salute”.