Transcript
Twenty-four candidates are down to contest six nationally elected common roll seats.
The Electoral Commission released a provisional list of candidates for the 20 seat parliament on Friday and candidates have until Friday to confirm.
The other seats represent the 14 villages of Niue, but only 11 of those villages have more than one candidate wishing to stand.
Va'aiga Tukuitonga is the current MP for Alofi Tokelau and has been in parliament for 17 years.
She's hoping to see new faces in parliament this year.
"I hope that there will be new members in the house, new blood in the house. We have very intelligent people here in Niue. The women, they are well educated. There are more women in departments than men. So I'm encouraging all the young ones - this is the time to come forward, be counted."
Rozlyn Hipa, known locally as Pinky, is running for the first time and is one of the ten female candidates vying for the common roll seats.
She wants young people to have a stronger voice in parliament.
"The younger generation have ideas that the majority of time is never taken seriously by the older people who are in politics. A lot of decision making is always done by the elder generation. The young people's voices are not actually heard a lot."
MPs' annual salaries have recently been doubled to about $NZ32,000.
Bill Vakaafi Motufoou, whose been the MP for the village of Mutalau for 18 years, hopes the rise will make a difference.
"That's the very reason why we fought hard to raise our pay, is to encourage young people to move in to politics and don't use income as an excuse to stay out of politics."
Women have never held more 15 percent or three of the 20 seats.
Va'aiga Tukuitonga says that's mainly because women don't often vote for women.
She says the parliament needs more balance.
"It makes a little bit of difference with all the men in the house. You are able to put forward the thoughts of women. You know women have different things that they think would be better for the country. And debating in the house with the men, respecting them."
Mr Vakaafi Motufoou says he'd also like to see more women voted in.
"Somehow men get blamed for not having enough women in politics. But I look at it this way, there are more women on Niue than men. So why aren't they voting themselves in and stop blaming us men?"
Niue's Premier Sir Toke Talagi says he would like to see MPs' salaries increased further.
"I'd like to see it go up to about $50,000. I don't think that's large, but I need to generate revenues to enable me to do that. And I think we're almost partly there with that. The second thing I want to do is increase public servants pay to 80 percent of what you would get in New Zealand."
The elections will take place on 6 May.
