Editing Secession (section)

===New Zealand===
{{See also|South Island Independence}}

Secession movements have surfaced several times in the [[South Island]] of New Zealand. A [[Prime Minister of New Zealand|Premier of New Zealand]], Sir [[Julius Vogel]], was amongst the first people to make this call, which was voted on by the [[Parliament of New Zealand]] as early as 1865. The desire for South Island independence was one of the main factors in moving the capital of New Zealand from [[Auckland]] to [[Wellington]] in the same year.

The [[NZ South Island Party]], with a pro-South agenda, fielded only five candidates (4.20% of electoral seats) candidates in the [[1999 New Zealand general election|1999 General Election]] but achieved only 0.14% (2622 votes) of the general vote. The reality today is that although South Islanders have a strong identity rooted in their geographic region, secession does not carry any real constituency; the party was not able to field any candidates in the 2008 election, as they had less than 500 paying members, a requirement by the New Zealand Electoral commission. The party is treated more as a "joke" party than any real political force.