KEY POINTS:
The head of the Electoral Commission has warned that the law she is charged with overseeing is having a "chilling effect" on public participation in the election.
In a speech this week, Dr Helena Catt criticised the Electoral Finance Act for the first time since it came into
law, saying it was confusing.
She said the rushed introduction, last-minute changes, and lack of political consensus had resulted in a "difficult law" and significant parts were "obscure" and hard to interpret.
"It is clear that having uncertainty remaining within the regulated period has had a chilling effect on the extent and type of participation in political and campaign activity."
The Electoral Finance Act was passed in controversial circumstances in December last year - just two weeks before its provisions came into effect - under heavy fire from its opponents, including a Herald campaign.
Although Dr Catt raised concerns about the bill before it was passed, her speech on Tuesday to the Lexis Nexis Electoral Finance Law Forum is the first time she has publicly criticised it since it came into force.
Yesterday Dr Catt would not expand on her comments, but a spokesman for the commission said the words were "carefully chosen".
National Party leader John Key said it was a "damning indictment" on the law that the Electoral Commission was openly criticising it so close to an election.
Minister of Justice Annette King would not respond to Dr Catt's comments, saying Dr Catt was an independent commissioner and "she's entitled to say what she likes".
"The only comment I would make is political parties and those who want to campaign should get on with it, because there's nothing stopping them getting their hoardings up, getting their pamphlets out and getting on with the campaign."
Dr Catt said it was taking time, money and "fine judgment" to resolve questions raised under the new law. It meant the commission was unable to make decisions as quickly or definitively as was desirable, and those decisions were also - "rightly" - open to legal challenges.
She also warned that the law would cause an ongoing hangover beyond the election when the parties file election expenses and donations returns.
She highlighted the provision allowing MPs to leave spending made in their "capacity as an MP" out of their election expenses, a boundary line the commission has previously voiced concern over.
The commission was critical of the bill during its select committee phase, warning that it was almost impossible to interpret key parts, including the definitions of an election advertisement and "capacity as an MP".
The commission has already gone before the courts in two cases - the recent National Party attempt to overturn its decision to allow the EPMU to list as a third party and National's court challenge to the commission's decision not to refer the Labour Party to police over a brochure which did not carry a promoter statement. The High Court rejected National's appeals in both cases.
