10th NZ Parliament

The 10th Parliament of New Zealand was in session from July 25 to August 25, 2011. The membership was set by the July 25 parliamentary elections. This Parliament marked the first time five parties had been represented in over four months.

The 10th Parliament witnessed some changes amongst the parties represented in it. The Red label Party (RLP), of President Kurojca and his successor Splindza, lost its plurality and fell to third place with 9 seats. It was replaced by the Ujedinjenje ili smrt (UIS) who captured 12 seats and emerged as the largest party.

One of the big winners from this campaign was the Peace 'n' Prosperity Party (PnPP), who won a record 11 seats. This was the party's best showing in its history. This was in contrast with Ranginui who suffered a reduction in members and one of its worst showings since its founding. The party ended up with 6 seats, a loss of 2.

The big surprise of the campaign was the Red Squad party. NZ's only communist made history when it won 2 seats and became the first communist party in NZ history to earn representation in Parliament. Their success was believed to be tied to picking up loose support from Ranginui and the RLP.

The 10th Parliament witnessed a flurry of legislative activity as MP's from all parties sought to full fill the campaign promises made to voters. This resulted in a major focus on social legislation, with Red Squad and PnPP MP's both bringing forward proposals to reduce VAT on food and to raise import taxes to protect domestic companies. Both met with defeat as RLP, UIS and Ranginui MP's teamed up to vote them down.

At the same time, NZ became engulfed in a series of Training Wars with Australia which eventually turned into full blown conflict. The Parliament supported the NZ governments war effort by reducing import taxes on weapons and voting to support gold transfers to government-run bodies.

A notable final motion came forward in later stages of the Parliament when a Red Squad MP brought forward an impeachment motion against the President. This motion was easily defeated.

Layout of the 10th NZ Parliament