Governor General Lt Gen Sir Jerry Mateparae signed the Writ to conduct the General Election on September 20, 2014.
The Writ, issued on August 20, directs the Electoral Commission to conduct the General Election, thereby enabling the opening of the nominations of candidates to various constituencies on August 21, 2014.
Chief Electoral Officer Robert Peden described the Writ as a ’key constitutional step in the election process.’
“The Writ sets out the dates for candidate nominations to close and the date on which the Writ must be returned showing the successful electorate candidates,” he said.
Under the Electoral Act, the Writ must be issued within seven days of the dissolution of Parliament.
The Electoral Commission must return the writ with the names of the successful electorate candidates to the Clerk of the House of Representatives within 50 days of its issue (in this case by October 9, 2014), if no application for a recount is received.
Bulk nominations of electorate candidates by registered political parties direct to the Electoral Commission closed on August 25, while nominations for List and independent candidates closed the following day.
Mr Peden said that the Electoral Rolls have also been closed for printing and that all voters enrolled after this date would be able to cast special declaration votes.
Candidate and Party Television and Radio advertising has since commenced.
