United Future party leader Damian Light has announced the party will disband.
Light, who stood as the party’s Botany candidate in the 2017 General Election, said in a press release the party is “extremely proud of what we’ve achieved over the past 15 years working alongside the government of the day, both National and Labour”.
By August 2017, United Future had become the party with the longest continuous role in New Zealand government for 100 years.
Light said while the party had achieved a long list of successes in parliament, it had struggled in the recent election, scoring just 0.1 per cent of the vote.
He said as part of its post election review, the party had spoken to those who voted for the party and those who didn’t.
“We know people like our policies and vision but it hasn’t translated into votes,” said Light.
“While the reasons vary, what has become clear is that UnitedFuture will not be able to achieve the significant number of votes required to break the high threshold.”
“Therefore we have decided is it time to disband the UnitedFuture party.”
In August, former United Future leader and long time MP for Ōhāriu Peter Dunne announced he would retire from politics after the 2017 General Election thrusting Light into the role of leader just weeks out from the election.
A motion to disband the party unanimously passed at the party’s Annual General Meeting in Auckland.
