MELBOURNE, 6 October 2022: The ‘New Democrats’ were registered as a political party under Victorian electoral law today. This has been announced by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) in a media release posted on its website. The new party’s name also appears in the list of political parties in Victoria.
The new party is led by former upper House Labor MP Kaushaliya Vaghela for the Western Metropolitan Region. She later started sitting on the cross Bench.
In a Facebook post, Kaushaliya Vaghela says, ” I am pleased to announce that a new political party the ‘New Democrats’has been officially registered today with the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC).
Just in few months, around 2,000 members have responded to my call for support and joined this new party. I have been moved by their overwhelming support that I have received during the registration process of the party. I thank all the members for joining my party and also for assisting in the registration process.
The extraordinary support for the ‘New Democrats’ party indicates that the people of Victoria are looking for an alternative to represent their interests.
The party applied for registration on Thursday 28 July 2022. As required by section 49 of the Electoral Act 2002, the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) advertised the application and invited objections. No objections were received.”
The AEC media release further says, ” To be registered, a party has to have at least 500 members on the Victorian electoral roll. The VEC confirmed this by writing to the members whose names were provided by the New Democrats.
As a registered political party, the New Democrats:
– will have the party’s name printed on State election ballot papers next to the names of the party’s endorsed candidates will have the party logo printed next to its endorsed candidates’ names on the ballot papers as shown:
– can nominate all its candidates and register how-to-vote cards centrally, rather than individually with election managers
– is entitled to public funding based on the number of votes it receives at a State election
– entitled to access enrolment information, not including phone numbers or email address, which it can use for permitted purposes.”
