The New National Party in the 1999 election: end of the road or a new beginning?

Abstract

Abstract In the 1999 election support for the New National Party (NNP) dramatically collapsed. This article critically assesses the NNP's electoral strategy and performance. In particular, by emphasising the NNP's consensual opposition style and through constructing an ‘Opposition Index’, it is argued that the prospects for the New National Party may not be as bleak as is commonly assumed.