Find out more about the rules candidates must follow for election advertising and campaigning, including the rules around promoter statements, how much you can spend on advertising and how the rules apply to different types of advertising.
An election advertisement is an advertisement that may reasonably be regarded as encouraging or persuading voters to vote or not vote for a:
- candidate
- party
- type of candidate or party the advertisement describes by referencing views they do or don’t hold.
Election advertisements about electorate candidates are called candidate advertisements, and election advertisements about parties are called party advertisements.
Election advertising can be published in any medium. Publish means to bring to a person's attention in any way, except for talking to people face to face, such as newspapers, magazines, posters, billboards, leaflets, TV and radio and online advertising.
Unpaid advertising can still be an election advertisement.
The following don’t count as election advertisements:
- editorial content
- personal political views online
- an MP’s contact details.
Find out more about these exemptions in the Candidate Handbook.
You can ask us for our opinion on whether an advertisement counts as an election advertisement for the purposes of the Electoral Act. We don’t charge a fee for this.
We will tell you whether, in the Commission’s view, the advertisement is an election advertisement, including whether it is a candidate and/or a party advertisement. The distinction between candidate and party advertising is important for authorisation of the advertising, expenditure limits and apportionment of election expenses for candidate and party returns.
Send your request to advisory@elections.govt.nz with a copy of the advertisement and information about how and when and the scale you'll publish it.
Our advisory opinions are not legal advice
Our opinions are our interpretation of the Electoral Act. They're not legally binding or legal advice, and a court of law may reach a different opinion. You may want to get your own legal advice before you publish your advertisement.
We’ll keep your request confidential until the election is over
We'll treat your request and our advice as confidential until after the return of the writ for the election. After that, we'll make our opinions available if someone asks for them, subject to the Official Information Act.
You can publicly release the advice we give you at any time, if you want to.
All election advertisements must include a promoter statement. This rule applies at all times, not just during the regulated period.
A promoter statement shows the name and address of the person promoting the advertisement. We recommend you word your promoter statements like this:
Promoted or authorised by [your name], [your full street address].
Your address can be the full street address of either the place where you usually live or any other place where usually someone can contact you between 9am and 5pm on any working day. You can't use a post office box or website address.
Promoter statements must be clearly displayed in election advertisements. For audible election advertisements, the promoter statement must be as easy to hear as the rest of the advertisement.
Not including a promoter statement is an offence which could lead to a fine of up to $40,000.
Find out more about promoter statements in the Candidate Handbook.
There are expense limits which apply to candidate advertising during the regulated period for an election.
The candidate expense limit covers the cost of election advertising that promotes a candidate published by the candidate, or by someone else with the candidate's consent, during the regulated period.
Election expenses include:
- the costs incurred in the preparation, composition, printing, postage and publication of a candidate advertisement, and
- the reasonable market value of any material used or applied towards the advertisement provided to a candidate for free or below reasonable market value.
Other campaign related costs, such as the candidate's nomination deposit, travel, hall hire and refreshments are not election advertising expenses and are not subject to this limit. Find out more about election expenses in the Candidate Handbook.
You need to give prior written approval for anyone else who publishes election advertising that encourages voters to vote for you. This rule applies at any time.
For example, if your party is promoting you in a joint party and candidate advert you need to give your approval to the party secretary in advance.
Advertising that others publish that promotes your campaign published during the regulated period will count towards your expenditure limit for the election, even if the person initiating the advertising pays for it. It may also be a donation to you.
You can only advertise your candidacy on TV or radio between writ day and the day before the election.
You can't tell voters to vote for your party but you can include information about the party you represent and its policies, for the purpose of promoting your own election.
You can't attack the policies of other parties or candidates.
Your whole website or social media account is an election advertisement if any part of it encourages or persuades voters to vote or not vote for a party or candidate.
Even if you don’t pay to promote your website or social media account, it can still count as an election advertisement.
The exemption for personal political views online usually applies to individuals posting comments on your website or social media pages.
You need a promoter statement on your website or account
On websites, put your promoter statement on the page that contains the election advertising. If you have many pages with election advertising, put your promoter statement on your homepage.
On social media accounts, include your promoter statement in your ‘About’ or profile section.
You don’t need a promoter statement if you like or share an election advertisement that someone else published on social media.