NZ First to campaign on voting rights for citizens only

Sunday, 5 July 2026

Winston Peters says citizenship should be the requirement for voting because it represented “the formal bond of allegiance, belonging, responsibility, and democratic authority”. (File photo)

New Zealand First is seeking to change the law so only New Zealand citizens can vote in general and local elections.

Speaking at a campaign meeting in Warkworth on Sunday, leader Winston Peters said voting in New Zealand “should be a privilege of those who have sworn allegiance to New Zealand and who have made the commitment to make New Zealand their home and their future”.

Under current law, permanent residents who have lived in New Zealand for at least one year can vote in parliamentary and local elections.

“The problem is any permanent resident who has gone through the normal application process, after just two years living in New Zealand, can vote,” Peters said.

“They can vote on who the government is, they can vote on who the local council is, they can even vote in referendums that would fundamentally change the social fabric of our society.

“Is this what we really mean by democracy in our country? Is this what we really want in our democracy in our country?”

Peters also labelled parts of his speech the “war on woke, war for democracy”.

He described his party as nationalist, patriotic, and conservative – “words which have now become viewed upon as being some sort of evil, and other politicians avoid like the plague”.

“We stand proud to not only stand for those values, but to fight for them. And to fight on your behalf to create a country that is proud of who we are in the world, proud of our country and what we stand for, proud our history and our traditional Kiwi values.

“There is only one party that does that and you are looking at it. All of the other parties are either self-confessed globalists, socialists, Marxists, separatists – or all of the above.

“The problem for all of those other parties is that there is a sea-change in politics that is happening around the world – and it is happening here in New Zealand.”

He also reaffirmed previously announced policies to break up the electricity sector and supermarket duopoly, establish a new state-owned bank, withdraw New Zealand from the Paris climate agreement, and abolish Auckland Council’s Independent Māori Statutory Board.