Factors influencing the electoral participation of Asian immigrants in New Zealand

New Zealand electoral data show that those identifying with an Asian ethnicity have the lowest electoral turnout of any of the broad 'ethnic' categories used by government statisticians. What accounts for this finding? Given a paucity of quantitative data with which to answer this question, we employ a qualitative, focus group-based research design to examine the electoral participation of first-generation Asian immigrants. 1 We ask, first, what are the main factors that lead Asian immigrants in New Zealand to participate or not participate in parliamentary elections and, second, do these reasons vary among immigrants from different national backgrounds? Our findings suggest that the low electoral turnout recorded among New Zealand Asians is likely to be at least in part an artefact of the recentness of much immigration from non-English-speaking countries such as South Korea and China. The paper also identifies the role government agencies, political parties and the ethnic media could play in communicating information about New Zealand's electoral politics, with potentially significant dividends for future voting rates among Asian immigrants in New Zealand.