I just skimmed through the leaflets and realized they got almost as many as lab/nat.
Who do they think they’re fooling?
It doesn’t hurt and it essentially becomes an honour roll for party members I suppose. Tow the party line and make the list, I guess.
I think there may also be campaign fund and council hoarding site allowances for electrical candidates, so you want to run electorate candidates wherever practical even if they don’t stand a chance.
If you’re going to stand ~50 electorate MPs, you might as well stick their names on the list.
Elections states that the “maximum number on the published list is 65”. I’m not sure why (printing size? Practicality?) I assume that if that rule wasn’t present the two major parties would be in at least the 80s.
There are 48 list seats, plus at most a few more overhang seats, and people can decline seats, so I’m guessing it’s to prevent parties from putting everyone and their mum on the list since it’s of very little practical use after some point.
There are 48 list only seats. Most of the electorate MPs are on the list, but if the party has any extra party vote after the electorate MPs it goes to whoever’s left on the list. Theoretically if a party won all the party vote they would need a list of 120(minus electorate only MPs). Presumably National and Labour both have this but it’s not published because they will never need ir.
