Values Party hopes to double its vote

Press, 27 August 1977, Page 3

Values Party hopes to double its vote

PA Dunedin' Values hopes that next; year it will double the total vote it received at the 1975 General Election, the leader of the party (Mr Tony Ku- ■ nowski) said at a press con-! ference yesterday during the party’s annual conference in Dunedin. I "If we approach things' i right in the next few I months. I think we can do lit,” he said. This would give Values a total vote of 10 to 11 per cent which would give the party "a good leverage” to double this figure later on. However, although this figure was “a realisable goal.” it would not be an end to! the Values Party if the goaf 'was not achieved. The party was not oriented to election success; a vote total was merely a barometer of the degree of acceptance of its ideas, Mr Kunowski said. Values would not water down its basic principles for j vote-catching policies. He said the party had become involved in the electoral process only because it was one of the' ways to dramatise issues. There had neen a changein the objectives of Values. One of the original main aims of the party had been "to seek political power as the Government of New Zealand." This had been (changed to )!he longer-term s I object of "achieving a more'

I just sustainable community-) [based society.” ; Although this would in-; [elude electioneering, it [ [ would be based largely on a policy of direct political action within the community, he said. There would be a ( bigger emphasis on the 'educative value of election! ■ campaigning on issues,) [ rather than simple vote-; [ catching. The strategy would from now on Ire tw'o-pronged — election campaigning at both 1

[regional and national levels. [ Direct political action wi- ; thin the community would [include more seminars and [workshops on Values issues, and the sale to the general public of the party’s newspaper. The change in objectives ; did not imply that Values I did not expect to win electoral support, but merely ; that it acknowledged a situation that already existed, (said the party’s chairman (Mr David Woodhams).