The Opportunity Party


The Opportunity Party , formerly known as The Opportunities Party, is a centrist political party in New Zealand. It was founded in 2016 by economist and philanthropist Gareth Morgan. The party is based on the idea of evidence-based policy and being located in the political centre, with a goal to bring "bringing new ideas, fresh energy and honesty to bridge the political divide holding New Zealand back".
The party received 2.4% of the party vote in the 2017 general election, and it only received 1.5% of the party vote in the 2020 general election. The party won an elected office for the first time in the 2022 local elections, with one member elected to the Featherston Community Board in the South Wairarapa District.
The party received no seats in the 2023 general election, having failed to have then party leader Raf Manji be elected in the Ilam electorate, and only receiving 2.2% of the party vote. After the election, Raf and Deputy Leader Natalia Albert stepped down. In November 2025, businesswoman Qiulae Wong was announced as the party's new leader after a period of searching, and the party was rebranded to The Opportunity Party, alongside a set of updated policy priorities.

History

Foundation

The Opportunities Party was founded by economist and philanthropist Gareth Morgan in November 2016. Morgan launched the party on 4 November outside Parliament House in Wellington. On 10 January 2017 the party announced that it had 2,000 members and was applying for registration. It also announced that it was considering standing electorate candidates. The Electoral Commission posted notice of the registration application on 21 January.
The party announced that then party chief of staff Geoff Simmons would contest the Mount Albert by-election on 25 February 2017. During the by-election the party was criticised by David Seymour for offering free bus trips for Mount Albert voters, which he asserted breached the Electoral Act. However, the Electoral Commission cleared TOP of any wrongdoing. Simmons received 623 votes, placing him third.

2017 general election

The party was registered by the Electoral Commission on 6 March 2017. On 24 May 2017, Gareth Morgan announced the party's first four electoral and list candidates for the general election on 23 September 2017, and announced further candidates in the following months including former Green Party candidate Teresa Moore who joined Geoff Simmons as co-deputy leader. TOP's final list had 26 party list candidates of which 21 were also contesting electorates.
TOP took TVNZ to court after being excluded from its televised election debates, but lost the case. Leader Gareth Morgan faced controversy during the campaign for referring to Labour leader Jacinda Ardern as "lipstick on a pig", suggesting that the new leader had style but not substance. Morgan also faced backlash when he criticised the public for being sad over the death of Jacinda Ardern's cat. This backlash included an email from TOP candidate Jenny Condie, who said, "It is not merely Gareth's comments themselves – these are a reflection of the culture that exists within the party. There is a mismatch between our policies and our culture: between what we say we want to accomplish and how we actually behave." In response, Morgan told Condie to resign from the party.
At the 2017 general election, TOP gained 2.4% of the vote and won no seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives. Morgan vowed to continue fighting for a "fairer New Zealand" and maintained that TOP was not a failure since it was the fifth most popular party.

Post election developments

In December 2017, three months after the election, Gareth Morgan resigned as leader and the party's deputy leader Geoff Simmons and two candidates also stepped down from their roles. Morgan said the party would contest the 2020 election but he would not lead it.
In the week that followed the resignations, candidates Jessica Hammond Doube and Jenny Condie announced the launching of a splinter group from TOP with the placeholder name "Next Big Thing". Both candidates attributed their low list rankings to their having raised questions over Morgan's controversial remarks during the election campaign. Condie would become a councillor for Wellington in 2019, while Jessica Hammond would return to TOP for the 2020 election, after a culture shift within the party during its rebuilding phase.
On 9 July 2018, Morgan announced that the Board of The Opportunities Party had decided to cancel the party's registration since the party lacked the time and resources to contest the 2020 general election. In late July, Morgan and the party's board announced that he would reconsider his decision to cancel the party's registration after receiving expressions of interest from people sympathetic to the party's goals. Morgan also indicated in a Facebook post that he was willing to fund candidates and leaders sympathetic to the goals of The Opportunities Party.
In August 2018, The Opportunities Party appointed a new board and Geoff Simmons was appointed interim leader. The new team embarked on a "Listening Tour" across the country to gauge supporter reaction and future interest.
In December 2018, an internal leadership election was run by digital voting company Horizon State. The candidates for leader were Geoff Simmons, Donna Pokere-Phillips, Amy Stevens, Anthony Singh, and Jessica Hammond-Doube. An election was also held for the member-representative to the Board. On 8 December 2018, the board announced that Geoff Simmons had been elected and that Donna Pokere-Phillips had won the race for Member Representative.

2020 general election

After gathering enough support to restart the party and continuing to register with the Electorate Commission, a rebrand and relaunch was held in October 2019. In the brand launch speech, leader Geoff Simmons called for a universal basic income and advances in environment and housing, and to "break the Labour / National duopoly".
TOP nominated candidates in multiple electorates. The Ōhāriu electorate was a particular focus: their Ōhāriu candidate Jessica Hammond Doube said that TOP intended to pour resources into that campaign, as it was the only seat that the party believed it could win. However, she lost the seat to incumbent representative Greg O'Connor by 18,494 votes. Receiving 4,443 votes herself, she came third.
Simmons himself contested Rongotai and came fourth with 3,387 electorate votes out of 45,649 cast. At the beginning of his campaign for the seat Simmons spelled the name of the electorate incorrectly in his advertising as "Rongatai".
The party won 43,449 party votes in the election, or 1.5% of the total. During the party's AGM held on 3 November 2020, the first after the preliminary results had been released, Geoff Simmons resigned as leader and Shai Navot became interim leader.
On 27 January 2022, former Christchurch City Councillor and independent candidate for Ilam, Raf Manji, was announced as the party's third leader.

2022 local elections

The party fielded four candidates in the 2022 local elections, the first time they had contested them. With the final votes tallied, the party had its first elected representative in John Dennison who won a seat on the Featherston Community Board in the South Wairarapa District.

2023 general election

As of May 2023, TOP averaged around 1–2% in opinion polls. Its leader, Raf Manji, said that realistically it would need to win the electorate of Ilam to enter Parliament. Manji had contested the electorate in 2017, as an independent, and came second. Manji said, "Essentially, you've got a backbench MP from Labour, or backbench MP from National, or the former city councillor for the ward who knows the issues". On 4 August 2023, TOP announced their new party list where they put forward 13 electorate candidates throughout New Zealand. On the same day, Natalia Albert was announced as the new Deputy Leader of the party.
During the 2023 general election held on 14 October, TOP received 2.22% of the party vote. It failed to win any seats or meet the five percent threshold needed to enter Parliament. Manji came second in Ilam, with 10,863 votes compared to the winner National candidate Hamish Campbell's 18,693 votes.
During the party's Annual General Meeting on 3 December 2023, Manji stepped down as leader. In August 2025 the party's general manager, former Labour MP and minister Iain Lees-Galloway, advertised the role as party leader on employment website SEEK.

2026 general election

In November 2025 the party chose Qiulae 'Q' Wong to be their new leader. Wong currently works at KPMG, is the former director of the New Zealand branch of B-Lab, and also worked for the Ethical Fashion Forum in London, as well as New Zealand accessibility initiative Be.Accessible. The party announced it would contest the 2026 general election with a range of policies, including reducing house prices through a land value tax, and introducing a "Citizen's Voice", consisting of citizens' assemblies for certain major issues.

Electoral results

! 2020

Officeholders

Leader

Deputy leader

Notable candidates