The popular, politically neutral election tool Policy.nz is back, helping New
Zealanders explore party policies, compare candidates and
make informed choices ahead of the 2026 general
election.
First launched in 2017, Policy.nz aims to
cut through the spin and make it easier for voters to find
out what parties and candidates say they will do if elected
– and to compare their proposals side by
side.
Policy.nz was founded ahead of the 2017 general
election with the mission of making it easier for voters to
exercise their democratic right.
“When Policy.nz was
founded, there was no single place where you could see all
the parties’ policies and compare them on equal terms,”
says Shanti Mathias, Policy.nz editorial director.
“Policy.nz exists to make it easier for people to get past
the slogans and personalities of an election campaign and
understand the actual choices in front of
them.”
Unlike election quizzes, Policy.nz does not
tell voters who they should vote for. Instead, it collects
the policies announced by political parties and presents
comparable proposals using consistent, plain and politically
neutral language, with links back to the original
sources.
For the 2026 election, Policy.nz has been
redesigned by Daylight, with a new interface intended to
make navigating and comparing the large amount of
information on the site simpler and more
intuitive.
With its redesigned interface, Policy.nz
allows voters to enter their address and explore their
options for both the party vote and electorate vote. Users
can read profiles of the different parties, survey responses
from candidates and party policies organised by
issue.
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Voters can browse policies with party names
either shown or hidden, allowing them to consider the ideas
before seeing which parties are proposing them. They can
also favourite policies and see which parties’ proposals
they have favourited most often.
“Reading through
all the party policies like this really shows which policy
areas different parties have in common, and which ones
they’re neglecting,” says Mathias.
“Most major
parties have comprehensive solar energy policies, which is a
stark change from the 2023 election. But despite how much
New Zealand’s economy is affected by global forces,
international relations policy is almost
non-existent.”
Since its launch, Policy.nz has
covered the 2017, 2020 and 2023 general elections, as well
as local elections. Over 500,000 people – roughly one in
six New Zealand voters – used the tool ahead of each of
the 2020 and 2023 general elections.
The tool has also
been used as a resource in schools to help students learn
about elections and explore the policies offered by
different political parties.
Policy.nz will continue
to be updated as parties announce new policies ahead of
election day on 7 November.
This edition of Policy.nz
would not be possible without the generous support of Foggy
Valley Aotearoa Trust, Mike Frumkin and Christina Falco, and
MinterEllisonRuddWatts.
