The 99 MP Party was a small New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 political party that contested the 2005 General Election. It supported a reduction of the number of Members of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 from 120 to 99.

History

With the introduction

Electoral reform in New Zealand

Electoral reform in New Zealand has, in recent years, become a political issue as major changes have been made to both Parliamentary and local government electoral systems.- Parliamentary Electoral Reform :...

 of Mixed Member Proportional in 1996, the number of MPs rose from 99 to 120. Margaret Robertson organised a referendum in 1999 calling for the number to be reduced back to 99.

Local businessman Jack Yan

Jack Yan

Jack Yan is a publisher, designer and businessman, born 1972 in Kowloon, Hong Kong.Yan founded his own company in 1987 while a teenager and grew it, initially, into the region's leading font software firm, claiming to be the first New Zealander to design digital typefaces...

 proposed that Robertson's campaign be turned into a political party in 2001, a decision that she agreed to the following year after finding that most parties in Parliament

Parliament of New Zealand

The Parliament of New Zealand consists of the Queen of New Zealand and the New Zealand House of Representatives and, until 1951, the New Zealand Legislative Council. The House of Representatives is often referred to as "Parliament".The House of Representatives usually consists of 120 Members of...

 generally did not support a reduction. Robertson took initial steps toward achieving the membership number required. Yan initially served as president and designed the logo and marketing collateral, but lived in Europe in the northern summer of 2002, became less involved on his return, and was replaced.

The 2002 policies were centrist to conservative, including the toughening of the Crimes Act 1961

Crimes Act 1961

The Crimes Act 1961 is an Act of the Parliament of New Zealand administered by the Ministry of Justice.-Amendments:The Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986 amended the Crimes Act, allowing for consensual homosexual relationships between men....

 and reforming Parliament and the select committee structure. In addition to the reduction of MP numbers, the party also supports making referendums mandatory for all constitutional changes.

The Electoral Commission accepted the party's official registration on 14 April 2005.

2005 General Election and subsequent deregistration

In the 2005 elections

New Zealand general election, 2005

The 2005 New Zealand general election held on 17 September 2005 determined the composition of the 48th New Zealand Parliament. No party won a majority in the unicameral House of Representatives, but the Labour Party of Prime Minister Helen Clark secured two more seats than nearest rival, the...

, the 99 MP Party gained 0.03% of the vote. Shortly afterwards, Margaret Robertson announced plans to step down.

On 16 March 2006, the New Zealand Parliament passed the first reading of New Zealand First

New Zealand First

New Zealand First is a political party in New Zealand that was founded in 1993, following party founder Winston Peters' resignation from the National Party in 1992...

 MP Barbara Stewart

Barbara Stewart

Barbara Stewart is a New Zealand politician. She is a member of the New Zealand First party.-Early life:Stewart was born in Wairoa in 1952. She obtained a BEd and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies, both from the University of Waikato...

's private members bill, to cut the number of MPs to 100. A number of parties indicated though that their support was for it to go to select committee, at which public submissions could be heard.

In September 2006, the party was deregistered, having failed to provide evidence of the necessary 500 members.