Dear Friend,

In New Zealand, if you elect a mayor or councillor who immediately misbehaves, that politician is safe in their seat until their three-year term is up.

I'm asking you to help change this.

Voter recall options are gaining popularity overseas and it's time New Zealand had the conversation.

Will you email Labour and National politicians to put local recall elections on the political agenda for the upcoming election?

The case for recall elections and a proposed system is set out in “Recall Elections in Local Government”, a new joint policy paper from the Taxpayers’ Union, the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance, and the Northern Action Group.

Recall elections affirm the basic concept of “sovereignty of the people”. In a democracy, it is a fundamental right to elect representatives and that should also include the right to remove them from office and replace them.

We are proposing a three-step process:

1. Voters sign a recall petition for a named official (requires signatures from 10% of voters)

2. A vote is held (YES or NO on recall)

3. (If YES) A special election is held to elect a representative for the vacant position.

In the run-up to the General Election, we want to put recall elections on the political agenda. Our aim is to have both Labour and National adopt recall elections as policy. This will ensure it is implemented in the next Parliament regardless of the result.

Local democracy is strengthened by recall elections, but we need your help emailing the local government spokespeople for Labour and National.

--> Click here to email the MPs <--

It only takes 30 seconds. We have provided some suggested text for your email but encourage you to add your own comments and observations. You may wish to include examples of when you would have liked to have recall elections when local representatives underperformed or misbehaved.

Thank you for helping to strengthen local democracy.

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union