No Commercial Airport at Whenuapai Airbase Party explained

The No Commercial Airport at Whenuapai Airbase Party was a local political party in New Zealand which opposed the transformation of Auckland's Whenuapai airbase into a commercial airport.

The party was inspired by the success of the Whenuapai Airbase Action Group (Waag) in turning the fate of the airbase into a political issue during the 2007 local body elections.

The party applied to register a logo with the Electoral Commission on 21 April 2008.[1] The party however failed to apply for formal registration so was limited to its sole candidate at the 2008 election.

It ran a single electorate candidate in 2008 and received 238 electorate votes. It did not run in the 2011 election.

In the local body elections of October 2007, the pro-airport North Shore City mayor was defeated by an anti-airport mayoral candidate with indications that the airport issue was the most important of factors considered by voters.[2] Subsequently, North Shore City Council reversed support for a Whenuapai International Airport while the Waitakere City Council remained in favour. In 2010, all councils were amalgamated into the new Auckland Council and therefore support for a commercial airport was dropped.

Notes and References

  1. http://www.elections.org.nz/news/ec-media-noairport-210408.html New Zealand Electoral Commission: Application to register a political party logo
  2. Crothers, Charles: "Candidates, Issues and Outcomes", AUT University.