The Electoral Commission has decided that The Alliance had a reasonable excuse for filing its return late; and that the National Party policy document isn’t an election advertisement.
But it has determined that the Northern EMA advertisement is an election advertisement and will refer it to the police because it breaches the Electoral Finance Act.
It has also ruled that a New Zealand First flyer and National Party leaflet about meetings with their leaders aren’t election advertisements.
The Commission also decided that a Labour Party caravan breached the EFA because it didn’t have an authorisation statement but won’t be referring the matter to police.
And it ruled that an item in the Chinese Express Weekly including photos of Labour MPs and candidates wasn’t an election advertsiement.
When the EMA will be referred to the the police but the Labour Party won’t – again – the law of common sense has become even more confusing.
And with less than three months to the election we still don’t know if political party logos are election advertisements.
