Editing Values Party (section)

==Values Party contestation of elections==
[[File:Tony Brunt and Alan Stanton 1972.jpg|thumb|right|Values Party leader [[Tony Brunt]] (left) with [[Nelson, New Zealand|Nelson]] candidate Alan Stanton<ref name="Coates">{{cite news |last1=Coates |first1=Ken |title=Speaking to candidates |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/press/1972/11/09/5 |work=The Press |date=9 November 1972 |location=Christchurch, NZ |page=5|via=PapersPast}}</ref> in 1972.]]
The Values Party contested six general elections in 1972, 1975, 1978, 1981, 1984 and 1987. Despite strong showings in 1975 and 1978 it did not gain seats under the [[first-past-the-post]] electoral system in use at that time. It did however manage to get some candidates elected to local government. The first, [[Helen Smith (New Zealand)|Helen Smith]] of [[Titahi Bay]], joined the [[Porirua City Council]] in 1973.<ref>[http://www.nzes.org/exec/getdata/NZ_elections_1972-93.xls New Zealand election results ]</ref>{{dead link|date=January 2023}} In 1974, party leader [[Tony Brunt]] was elected as a [[Wellington City Council]]lor and was re-elected in 1977.<ref>{{cite news |work = [[The Evening Post (New Zealand)|The Evening Post]] |title=New Councillor |date=16 October 1974 }}</ref>

In 1974, several Values candidates also ran unsuccessfully for office in Auckland's local government elections, including lawyer Reg Clough, who stood as a Councillor and received more votes than five of the [[New Zealand Labour Party|Labour]] candidates.<ref name="Bush">{{cite book |last1=Bush |first1=Graham W.A. |title=Advance in Order - The Auckland City Council from Centenary to Reorganisation 1971-1989 |date=1991 |publisher=Auckland City Council |isbn=0908834039 |page=360}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Values Party candidates |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19721027.2.54.8 |work=The Press |date=27 October 1972 |page=6|via=PapersPast}}</ref> Six candidates ran for the Auckland Hospital Board: [[Cherry Raymond]] (journalist and broadcaster) and Dr. Rex Hunton (medical director of the Auckland Medical Aid Centre)<ref>{{cite web |title=Hunton, Rexley Blake |url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/38222085 |website=National Library of New Zealand |access-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> stood in the Auckland City ward; Keith Langton (lawyer) and Wayne Facer (university administrator) were in Waitemata City ward; Peter Wilcox (physician) and Isabella White (nurse) stood in the North Shore. Raymond was the strongest contender for the Hospital Board – receiving over 10,000 votes – though not enough to win a seat.<ref>{{cite news |title=Men will be in the minority |work=[[New Zealand Herald]] |date=14 October 1974 |page=3 (Section I)}}</ref><ref name="VV197409">{{cite journal |journal=Values Voice |title=Local Body Progress|date=September 1974 |volume=2 |issue=3|page=5|publisher=Values Party}}</ref><ref name="VV197410">{{cite journal |journal=Values Voice |title=Auckland Regional Newsletter|date=October 1974 |volume=2 |issue=4|page=1|publisher=Values Party}}</ref>

[[Mike Ward (New Zealand politician)|Mike Ward]] was a [[Nelson City Council]]lor from 1983 to 1989 under a Values banner.<ref>{{cite news|last=Neal |first=Tracy |title=Because they asked: a fourth bid to be mayor |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/4112323/Because-they-asked-a-fourth-bid-to-be-mayor |access-date=11 September 2010 |newspaper=[[The Nelson Mail]] |date=9 September 2010}}</ref> [[Jon Mayson]], a party co-leader in the 1980s, was elected a member of the Bay of Plenty Harbour Board on a Values Party ticket.<ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |title=The Management Interview: Jon Mayson – Leading with heart and soul |url=https://management.co.nz/article/management-interview-jon-mayson-leading-heart-and-soul |access-date=19 August 2022 |website=New Zealand Management |date=31 October 2002 }}</ref>

Under the leadership of polytechnic economics lecturer [[Tony Kunowski]] and deputy leader [[Margaret Crozier]], the Values Party contested the 1978 general election with a considerable following, but again failed to win seats in parliament. Most probably this was mainly because voters at that time were more concerned about rapidly rising unemployment than anything else. The idea of an ecological "zero growth" society envisaged by Values Party members had met with the economic reality of near-zero GDP growth, high price-inflation, and an [[Capital strike|investment strike]] by business. Although gaining fewer votes than the New Zealand Labour Party, [[Robert Muldoon]]'s [[New Zealand National Party|National Party]], which promised to create many more jobs by borrowing foreign funds to build large infrastructural projects (the so-called "[[Think Big]]" strategy, developing oil, gas, coal and electricity resources), was returned to government at the [[1978 New Zealand general election|1978 election]]. In the late 1970s the [[Alliance 90/The Greens|German Green Party]] wrote to the Values Party stating "we like your manifesto, can we use your policy?"<ref name=":2">{{Citation |title=Values Party Founding 40th Anniversary, Wellington 1 June 2012 | date=15 May 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEi7cQKCR_I |language=en |access-date=2022-09-16}}</ref>

===Electoral results===
{|  class=wikitable style=text-align:center
! Election
! candidates
! seats won
! votes
! percentage
|-
! {{NZ election link year|1972}}
| 42
| 0
| 27,467
|  1.96
|-
! {{NZ election link year|1975}}
| 87
| 0
| 83,241
| 5.19
|-
! {{NZ election link year|1978}}
| 92
| 0
| 41,220
| 2.41
|-
! {{NZ election link year|1981}}
| 17
| 0
| &nbsp;3,460
| 0.19
|-
! {{NZ election link year|1984}}
| 29
| 0
| &nbsp;3,826
| 0.20
|-
! {{NZ election link year|1987}}
| 9
| 0
| &nbsp;1,624
| 0.08
|}