The newly-formed Conservative Party says it is starting to hit a nerve with voters as it begins to register in the polls.
Leader Colin Craig, an Auckland businessman, formed the party in September and is bankrolling its more than $1 million election campaign.
The centre-right party, a combination of several former small parties, has registered in a number of polls at 1% or lower.
Mr Craig says in less than two months the party has managed to get more than 500 members, register for the election on 26 November and stand 52 candidates.
He says there has not been enough time to fundraise, so he is paying for most of the campaign himself.
A third of the party's members have also given donations, ranging from $15 to $1000.
Mangere candidate Fa'avae Gagamoe says he and a number of other party members were planning to spend the next three years fundraising to contest the 2014 election until Mr Craig came along.
Mr Gagamoe says there would not be a party without the financial backing and it would have taken a lot of sausage sizzles and car washes to raise that kind of money to stand for Parliament.
The Conservative Party would try to help the 20% of Maori and Pacific Island people that fall through the cracks of the education system, he says.