TheEthnic Minority Party was aNew Zealand political party which focused onAsian voters, particularlyChinese andIndian New Zealanders
The party was formed on 2 April 1996, and hoped to take advantage of the benefits given to smaller parties by the newMMP electoral system. It was organised and led by Robert Hum, an accountant and immigrant to New Zealand fromMalaysia. The party's foundation came as the anti-immigrationNew Zealand First party made significant gains in the polls. In the1996 elections, it stood a list of eleven candidates, and received 0.12% of the vote.[1] During the election there were ballot paper mistakes confusing the Ethnic Minority Party with theAsia Pacific United Party.[2]
Both Chinese and Indian New Zealanders were the bulk of the party supporters initially, but by the election's end it had gained much support from Korean and Filipino voters as well. Aditya Prakash, an Auckland cardiac surgeon, took over the leadership from Hum after the 1996 election. Prakash stated that Ethnic Minority were aiming to field candidates in the next local body elections in 1998.[2] However, in April 1998, the Ethnic Minority Party was deregistered by theElectoral Commission after it decided to merge into theUnited New Zealand party.[3]
At the1999 election, many Ethnic Minority Party candidates were in high positions on the United's list. However, United won only a single seat, leaving the Ethnic Minority candidates outside Parliament. Later, United merged withFuture New Zealand to create the modernUnited Future, and the Ethnic Minority influence has been considerably diluted.
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