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Former National MP Jami-Lee Ross is looking to start a new political party
Former national deputy Jami-Lee Ross is trying to retain his Botany constituency in this year’s general election, and his ability to win the seat will decide his political future.
In the 2017 election, he beat his closest rival, the Labor candidate Tofik Mamedov, by 12,839 votes. But an ongoing legal battle with the Serious Fraud Office and his own bitter departure from the National Party in 2018 are additional factors this time.
His former party seeks to confront former Air New Zealand CEO Chris Luxon in September.
But Ross is confident that he can retain Botany and said he believes the public will be able to see beyond his standout legal battle with the Office of Serious Fraud.
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“I don’t think it’s a problem. I think people see me as a whistleblower, someone who had the courage to speak up.”
The former Auckland councilman first won the seat in a 2011 partial election following the resignation of National Deputy Pansy Wong and has since held the electorate. When he was first sworn in, he was the youngest member of Parliament.
Ross is one of four men indicted by the Serious Fraud Office in the National Party donation case, along with a leader from the Chinese community, who allegedly gave $ 100,000 to the party, and two others.
The removal of the name of Ross and his co-defendants Yikun Zhang, Shijia Zheng and Hengjia Zheng was lifted at the Auckland District Court in February.
Ross’s original complaint was filed in October 2018 and in March of last year was forwarded to the Serious Fraud Office. He claimed that National Party leader Simon Bridges had asked him to divide $ 100,000 from a Chinese donor to avoid violating the Election Law. Under the legislation, political parties must disclose donations of more than $ 15,000.
Ross gave the police a secretly taped conversation between him and Bridges where they discussed the donation as part of their complaint. But in February, he was indicted for his involvement in the donation scandal.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and while the case has not been resolved, he is confident that he can still launch his new party, Advance NZ, in time for the 2020 general election. But Ross admitted that he has yet to register the party.
“We are building our membership and I believe we will exceed the threshold of 500 members in four to six weeks,” he said.
Ross said that as a minor party, he will not be able to stand as a candidate in all electorates, he hopes to have at least 20 to 30 people in key positions across the country.
He claims that there is no party that falls somewhere between Labor and National and that is where he wants Advance NZ to be.
“I think people are not happy with the current political environment and that it is worth starting a party for them. I’m not saying that everything the current government or National does is wrong, but we need to have parties in the middle. “
According to the New Zealand Electoral Commission, there is no deadline for registering a political party.
But a party must be registered before the day of writing so that the general election can contest the party’s vote and present a list of parties. You must also have at least 500 current financial members who are eligible to enroll.
