How to become a Green Party Parliamentary candidate

A step-by-step guide to the process

NOTE:
1. All candidates who wish to be ranked on the party list and attend the Campaign conference in February need to have their questionnaire, nomination form and CV (standard format) into the national office by 17th January 2005.
2. Candidates who wish to stand for selection as an electorate candidate must first have been accepted into the candidate pool, according to the process below.

1. Register an Expression of Interest in being a candidate
   1. Contact the PDC (liz.thomas@greens.org.nz) who will send you the
      • Ideal Candidate Attributes
      • Candidate Self Assessment Questionnaire
      These documents are to help you consider your decision and identify any training/experience you might need or steps you might take.
   2. Send the questionnaire back to the PDC
   3. You will be sent feedback on your questionnaire from a person not on the Candidate Selection Committee, along with a Green Party Parliamentary Pool Declaration/Nomination Form and CV standard format for the next step.
   4. In the meantime, get active in your community/sector, build up your profile and credibility as a candidate, and build up a campaign team to support you.
2. Apply for entry to the candidate pool
   When the pool opens (1 April) and you are ready for your candidate interview,
   1. Fill in the Green Party Parliamentary Pool Declaration/Nomination Form. This needs to be signed by 5 Green Party members who know you well and will be your referees (you will need to check they are financial members).
   2. If you are applying to be a List-only candidate at this stage, fill in the List-Only Candidate Nomination and Intention Forms signed by 5 Green Party members who know you well and will be your referees (you will need to check they are financial members).
   3. Send the form(s) along with your CV (in the standard format), your photograph and your 200 word statement to the PDC at the National Office (Green Party PO Box 11-652 Wellington).
   4. Receipt of your nomination will be acknowledged. When all documents (questionnaire, nomination and CV) have been received, you will be contacted within 3 weeks and an interview time will be arranged.
3. Be interviewed for the candidate pool
   1. Your candidate interview will be carried out by two members of the Candidate Selection Committee. The interview will be by telephone or face-to-face, or a combination.
   2. The interviewers will report back to the Candidate Selection Committee who will discuss your nomination and make a recommendation to Executive.
   3. Executive will decide whether to accept you into the Candidate Pool and will then contact you to let you know. Note: this could take up to 5 weeks depending on meeting dates of the two committees.
   4. If you are not happy with Executive’s decision, you should contact the Executive to lodge an appeal.
   5. Once you are in the candidate pool, you are eligible to stand for selection as an electorate candidate or a list-only candidate.
4. Apply for selection as an electorate candidate
   1. Talk to your electorate and find out when they will be holding a selection meeting.
   2. Fill in the Electorate Candidate Nomination form. This needs to be signed by 5 people in your electorate (or an nearby electorate) who are prepared to be part of your campaign team. (You will need to check they are financial members.)
   3. Send the nomination form to the PDC at least two weeks before the selection meeting. Send a copy to the Selection Meeting Organiser.
5. Stand for selection as an electorate candidate
   1. Attend the Selection meeting. You, along with any other nominees, will be required to address the meeting and to answer questions.
   2. Those members at the meeting eligible to vote will vote by secret ballot. This will happen even if you are the only candidate, as voters have the option to vote "re-open nominations" if they don’t think you are a suitable candidate for that electorate. The meeting chair will explain the voting procedures.
6. Apply for selection as a List-only candidate
   1. If you are not selected as an electorate candidate, or do not want to stand as an electorate candidate, you will need to apply to be a list only candidate by filling in the List-Only Candidate Nomination and Intention Form and sending it to the PDC.
   2. All candidates who apply to be list-only will be interviewed for selection as a List-only candidate by two people from the Candidate Selection Committee.
   3. Please note that most of the Green Party candidates will be expected to stand as electorate candidates. There will be a few list-only candidates who will be campaigning nationally in their area of expertise, through national networks. There may also be a few candidates who for some reason are not able to stand in an electorate, but will campaign in another way. All candidates are expected to contribute positively to the election campaign.
7. The Party List
   1. The pool will close for list ranking purposes on 17th January 2005. Any candidate entering the pool and being selected as an electorate or list-only candidate after then, and before the pool finally closes, will not be ranked on the list in the first 30, but will appear in the alphabetic part of the list. Note: all candidates selected for an electorate will appear on the party list.
   2. All candidates to be ranked will be expected to attend a Campaign Conference in February 2005 for training and to meet the party representatives who will rank the Initial List.
   3. All candidates will be informed personally of their position on the Final List by the Candidate Selection Committee before the Final List is passed to the Executive.

Process for becoming a Green Party Candidate, February 2004, update December 2004