Bill English announces next general elections on 23 Sep 2017  

Bill English, PM New Zealand:

Today I announced the 2017 General Election will be held on Saturday 23 September.

I’ve announced the date now because I think it’s important to provide you and your fellow New Zealanders with certainty. It’s also in everyone’s best interest to have plenty of notice.

I’ve chosen 23 September because it’s almost three years to the day since the last election and, given the uncertainty around the world, it will be important for New Zealand’s Prime Minister to represent us at global forums like APEC and East Asian Summit, both of which fall in the latter part of this year.

National will be campaigning on its strong record of delivering more for you and your family.

New Zealand is now growing strongly, stronger than most developed countries. We’ve got New Zealand back on its feet, got people into jobs, returned to surplus, invested heavily in infrastructure and core services and tackled natural disasters.

The challenge now is to sustain that growth, build for growth, and act for the people who most need our help.

We need to be ready to adapt to a still fragile and uncertain world, and prepare ourselves for long term prosperity.

We will go into the election with a positive and ambitious programme that will build on the successes of the last few years, with a clear and strong plan to make you and all New Zealanders better off both at work and at home, and with the means to achieve it.

I’m excited for the year ahead but as you know, under MMP, elections are always close. We will be taking nothing for granted.

( Media Release)