Hosted by Central Baptist Church

Voting in the New Zealand General Election

You are invited to an evening with our local representatives talking about current issues on Thursday 1st October @ 5.30pm at Central Baptist Church, along with light refreshments.

We are writing to encourage all members of faith communities to enrol and participate in the upcoming general election on 7 November 2026.

As a first step we would ask all congregations to encourage their people to go to the Electoral Commission website https://vote.nz/ to enrol or update their enrolment online, to ensure all people of voting age are able to participate in the general election. This particularly pertains to young voters.

As people of faith, we are called to exercise our civic duty to ensure the last, lost, and least are adequately cared for, which is a universal measure of the health of society.

As a commission we are very concerned about current issues such as:

• The rising levels of poverty and mental health

• The challenge of adequate housing

• The weather events that impact our country as global climate change affects our nation and the world

We have no desire to tell you who to vote for. We are simply wanting to point to a careful consideration of the issues of our day, in light of the conscience we have had formed in our respective faith communities.

These are the things we hold in common across the faith spectrum which point to voting responsibly in consideration of the ongoing justice, peace, development, and ecological concerns pertaining to all people.

Ngā manaakitanga,

Nigel Webb | Assoc. Pastor – Central Baptist
Nick Wilson | Pastoral Services Director – Catholic Diocese

On behalf of the Justice Peace Development and Ecology Committee – Palmerston North