Stephnie de Ruyter is a former leader of the

New Zealand Democratic Party The New Zealand Social Credit Party (sometimes called "Socred") is a political party which served as the country's Third party (politics), third party from the 1950s through into the 1980s. The party held a number of seats in the New Zealand H ...

, a small centre-left New Zealand

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

based upon Social Credit economics. The Democrats, who, in June 2018, returned to campaigning under the name Social Credit are currently outside

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...

. While the Democratic Party was a member of the

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

, de Ruyter served as an Alliance candidate. In the 1999 election, she was the Alliance's candidate for the Invercargill electorate, and was ranked twenty-second on the party's list. She was not elected. Later, when the Democrats joined

Jim Anderton James Patrick Anderton (born Byrne; 21 January 1938 – 7 January 2018) was a New Zealand politician who led a succession of left-wing parties after leaving the Labour Party in 1989. Anderton's political career began when he was elected to th ...

to establish the breakaway Progressive Coalition, de Ruyter took an active role in building the new party. By the time of the

2002 election The following elections occurred in the year 2002. * 2002 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2002 Comorian presidential election * 2002 East Timorese presidential election * 2002 Fijian municipal election * 2002 Hong Kong Chief Executive election * ...

, de Ruyter was deputy leader of the Democrats and was ranked fifth on the Progressive list. She also stood as the Progressive Coalition's candidate in

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of ...

. Once again, she was not elected. Not long after the 2002 election, the Democrats opted to leave the Progressive Coalition and reestablish themselves as an independent party. The leader of the Democrats,

Grant Gillon Grant Gillon is a former New Zealand politician. He was a member of parliament between 1996 and 2002, representing the Alliance Party, has held a number of seats in local government. He previously served on the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board ...

, along with the former leader John Wright, unsuccessfully urged the party to remain a member of the Progressive Coalition. De Ruyter was elected leader on Gillon standing down and John Wright also leaving. De Ruyter has also been involved in local-body politics in Invercargill, standing for election to the Southland health board.

References

Living people Leaders of political parties in New Zealand People from Invercargill New Zealand Democratic Party for Social Credit politicians Alliance (New Zealand political party) politicians Jim Anderton's Progressive Party politicians Unsuccessful candidates in the 1999 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2002 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2005 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2008 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2011 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2014 New Zealand general election 21st-century New Zealand politicians 21st-century New Zealand women politicians Year of birth missing (living people) {{NewZealand-politician-stub