Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson has told RNZ the party is committed to "getting rid of this government" and wants strong influence on the next one, ahead of the party's annual general meeting in South Auckland on July 24.

The meeting brought together party members, delegates, MPs, and candidates. Both co-leaders, Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick, faced a vote by members on whether they should stay in their roles. Swarbrick was set to announce a new policy on Sunday afternoon, while Davidson was to give a speech on party values and release the party's election manifesto.

The party's campaign is already well advanced. The Greens' final list for the election was published in April, and the party had already released its tax, water, and energy policies ahead of the meeting.

Davidson said there had been a big increase in volunteers, phone calls, and door knocks compared to the same stage of previous election years. She also described aspects of the last few years as "traumatising" for the party, but said the party was stronger for it.

The latest RNZ-Reid Research poll put the Greens at 10.3%, up slightly from the previous poll but down from the 11.6% the party got at the 2023 election.

The meeting was held in South Auckland, which fits with the Greens' long-standing effort to build support beyond their strongest areas in Wellington and central Auckland. The facts available do not show whether that effort is working in the polls.

Source: RNZ

The votes on whether the co-leaders stay in their roles are a normal part of how the Green Party works. Members have the power to keep or remove leaders between elections. Neither Davidson nor Swarbrick faced a known challenge, but the process is taken seriously.

The broader context here is Davidson calling recent years "traumatising" and then saying the party came out stronger. That language does two things at once: it admits the party has had a hard time, and it turns that difficulty into a sign of strength. For a party that has sometimes seen internal tensions become public, that matters for keeping members motivated heading into the campaign.

Under New Zealand's voting system, MMP, the share of the vote a party gets determines how many MPs it brings into Parliament. Small differences in the vote can mean gaining or losing several seats. The 1.3-point gap between where the Greens are polling now and their 2023 election result may not sound large, but in a close election it can be the difference between holding ground and losing it.

What it comes down to is whether the Greens' vote holds or grows, and whether the mix of parties after election night puts them in a position to negotiate. When Davidson talks about "strong influence" rather than simply "being in government," she is leaving room for different kinds of arrangements. A party can join a government as a full partner, or it can agree to support a government on key votes in exchange for policy gains. Her wording suggests the party is open to either option, and that its ambition goes beyond simply getting back into Parliament.