This came after a highly publicised scandal which resulted in its leader, Graham Capill, going to jail for committing sex crimes against children.

Defunct According to Christian Heritage New Zealand's self-description, the party aimed "to provide leadership that takes the initiative in building a culture that affirms marriage, strengthens families, and celebrates life as a precious gift of God.

Christian Heritage NZ supported restrictions on prostitution, as well as mandatory standards for television with a view to reducing violence and pornography.

[4] The Party held demonstrations including a ‘Rally for Righteousness’ outside the gallery and circulated petitions to have works removed.

The Director of the City Gallery Paula Savage blamed the Heritage Party for low attendances at the Haring show with only 30,000 visitors against expectations of twice that number.

Christian Heritage NZ claimed broad-based support from members of various Protestant denominations and from the Roman Catholic Church, although many of its past members appeared to have held membership of the small Reformed Churches of New Zealand, composed largely of conservative Calvinist Dutch immigrants.

Some commentators[citation needed] criticised this rigid confessional policy for supposedly limiting the party's base.

Dirk Vanderpyl noted in his book Trust and Obey (1994) that many Reformed Churches of New Zealand members came from a narrow slice of Netherlands society, centred in Zeeland, Veluwe and Overijssel.

During the 1990s, some non-Reformed evangelical Christians repeatedly complained[citation needed] that the CHP took too long to transcend this initial base.

The Christian Heritage Party supported the ultimately successful campaign to change New Zealand's electoral system from first-past-the-post to mixed-member proportional (MMP).

Shortly before the election, much speculation occurred [citation needed] as to whether the Christian Coalition would reach the "five percent threshold" necessary to gain proportional representation in New Zealand's MMP electoral system.

Points of contention included the extent to which the coalition would admit non-Christians who shared compatible views – after the split, the Christian Democrats would conceal the explicitly religious nature of their party, which they eventually renamed "Future New Zealand".

[7] Six months before the 1999 elections, Frank Grover, leader of the Liberal Party, a component of the Alliance, defected to Christian Heritage, giving it one seat in Parliament.

Party strategists hoped that by focusing on a single electorate, Wairarapa, CHP could gain entry to Parliament and bypass the 5% threshold-requirement.

People alleged[citation needed] financial mismanagement against both sides, and Raukawa-Tait criticised Graham Capill's leadership of the party.

In March 2005, newspapers reported that a "prominent New Zealander" was "punched and left whimpering on the ground" outside the Christchurch High Court, where he was defending sex charges.

It appears that much of its support bled over[citation needed] to National, United Future, and the newly formed Destiny New Zealand.

A campaign organised by the conservative Christian-influenced Maxim Institute called "New Zealand Votes 2005" may have become a factor in the Party's disappointing performance in the 2005 general election.

[12] After the election, controversy arose when former CHNZ Policy Director Mark Munroe defended Capill in a private email, arguing that his serial paedophile offenses did not fit the "biblical definition of rape".

Following a further review of MMP, the reduction of the 5% threshold to 4% and abolition of the one seat/list representation rule was recommended to parliament, which has to date not adopted the suggested changes.