New Zealand National Party

New Zealand National Party, currently is the largest party in the New Zealand House of Representatives and in November 2008 formed a minority government with support from three minor parties.

According to the party's website, "The National Party seeks a safe, prosperous and successful New Zealand that creates opportunities for all New Zealanders to reach their personal goals and dreams".

The National Party currently advocates policies of reducing taxes, reducing social welfare payments, promoting free trade, restoring or maintaining New Zealand's traditional (Western) defence and security alliances and promoting one standard of citizenship for all New Zealanders ("One law for all"). The party's policy-documents contain commitments to doubling New Zealand's economic growth, to giving welfare payments only to "those in genuine need" and to "speedy, full and final settlements to historic Waitangi Treaty claims".

National's 2008 tax package plan set out a three-year programme of personal tax cuts.

The National Party wants to retain skilled New Zealand workers and attract overseas New Zealanders back to New Zealand. The National Party wants to better match skills of immigrants and make immigration services world class in efficiency and effectiveness, restoring confidence in their integrity.

National features both regional and electorate-level organisational structures. National traditionally had a strongly decentralised organisation, designed to allow electorates and the five regions to appeal to the unique voter base in their area. However, in light of the 2002 election result, a review of the party organisation resulted in decisions to weaken the regional structure and to implement a more centralised structure in order to make the structure more 'appropriate' for the new mixed member proportional electoral system. The Party President (currently Peter Goodfellow) heads the administration outside of National's current sitting MPs.

The National Party officially formed in May 1936, but its roots go considerably further back. The party came about as the result of a merger between the United Party (known as the Liberal Party until 1927, except for a short period between 1925 and 1927 when it used the name "National Party") and the Reform Party. The United Party gained its main support from the cities, and drew upon businesses for money and upon middle class electors for votes, while the Reform Party had a rural base and received substantial support from farmers, who then formed a substantial proportion of the population.

Historically, the Liberal and Reform parties had competed against each other, but from 1931 until 1935 a coalition between the United and Reform parties held power in New Zealand. The coalition went into the 1935 election under the title of the "National Political Federation", a name adopted to indicate that the grouping intended to represent New Zealanders from all backgrounds (in contrast to the previous situation, where United served city-dwellers and Reform served farmers). However, because of the effects of the Great Depression and a perception that the existing coalition government had handled the situation poorly, the National Political Federation lost heavily in 1935 to the Labour Party, the rise of which had originally prompted the alliance.

On the 8 November 2008, the National Party, led by John Key, won 58 seats in the national election. The Labour Party, who had spent three terms in power, conceded the election and on November 19 the New Government was sworn in. The National Party was joined in electoral success by the right-wing ACT Party, led by Rodney Hide, which won 5 seats and have joined National in forming a coalition government. The single seat won by Peter Dunne for his United Future Party is also part of a centre-right coalition government.

After the election John Key entered into talks with the Maori Party even though he had a majority. The National Government currently consists of National (58), Act (5) Maori Party (5) and United Future's Peter Dunne. The National Government Currently has 69 seats in a 122 seat Parliament. In Key's First Cabinet he gave Act Party's Rodney Hide and Heather Roy a seat outside cabinet and the Maori Party's Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples the same. Peter Dunne also received back the ministerial post outside cabinet he had held within the Labour Government.