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United Future New Zealand Te Rōpū Unaititi Heke Mai | |
---|---|
Leader | Peter Dunne (2000–2017) Damian Light (2017) |
Founder | Peter Dunne |
Founded | 2000[1] |
Dissolved | 14 November, 2017 |
Merger of | United New Zealand, Future New Zealand[1] |
Ideology | Liberal conservatism[2] Christian democracy[3] |
Political position | Centre[3] |
United Future New Zealand,[4] usually known as United Future, was a centrist political party in New Zealand. The party was in government between 2005 and 2017, first alongside Labour (2005–2008) and then supporting National (2008–2017).
United Future was formed from the merger of the liberal party United New Zealand and Christian-dominated conservative Future New Zealand to contest the 2002 election. It was represented in the New Zealand Parliament from its foundation until September 2017. The party won eight seats in 2002; however it was reduced to three Members of Parliament in 2005. Between 2008 and 2017, United Future was solely represented in Parliament by party leader Peter Dunne, who represented the Ōhāriu electorate in Wellington. Dunne was re-elected during both the 2011 and 2014 general elections.[5][6]
In August 2017, Dunne announced his retirement from politics prior to the 2017 general election. Damian Light was appointed as the new leader on 23 August.[7] During the 2017 general election, United Future lost its sole seat in Parliament and attained only 0.1% of the party vote.[8]
In November 2017, a leaked email announced that United Future would move to dissolve after a unanimous decision by the party board to do so. On 14 November an announcement was made on the party's website signalling that the party had officially been dissolved.[9][10][11] The party was formally de-registered on 28 February 2018.[12]
The name of the party shall be United Future New Zealand
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