Paul Egerton Piesse is a co-leader of the Alliance

Alliance (New Zealand political party)

The Alliance is a left-wing political party in New Zealand. It was formed in 1991, and was influential in the 1990s, but has since declined and has no representation in parliament. It suffered a major setback after Jim Anderton, the party's leader, left the party in 2002, taking several of the...

, a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 political party.

Piesse has been heavily involved in the union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

 movement, and has held a number of senior organisational roles. He was originally a supporter of the Labour Party

New Zealand Labour Party

The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially progressive and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....

, but joined NewLabour

NewLabour Party (New Zealand)

NewLabour was a left-of-centre party founded in 1989 by Jim Anderton, an MP and former President of the New Zealand Labour Party.NewLabour was established by a number of Labour Party members who left the party in reaction to "Rogernomics", the economic policies implemented by the Labour Party's...

 in protest of the economic policies Labour pursued in the late 1980s. NewLabour eventually helped form the Alliance, and Piesse became involved in the new party. In the 1999

New Zealand general election, 1999

The 1999 New Zealand general election was held on 27 November 1999 to determine the composition of the 46th New Zealand Parliament. The governing National Party, led by Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, was defeated, being replaced by a coalition of Helen Clark's Labour Party and the smaller Alliance...

, he stood as the Alliance candidate in the Christchurch East electorate, winning 6.7% of the vote. He was ranked 58th on the Alliance list.

Following the splintering of the Alliance, Piesse sided with the Harré

Laila Harré

Laila Jane Harré is a New Zealand politician and trade unionist. She was a Member of Parliament for the left-wing Alliance party, and became the party's leader for a brief period after the group experienced a schism in 2002.-Early life:...

-McCarten

Matt McCarten

Matthew "Matt" McCarten is a New Zealand political organiser. He has been involved with several leftist or centre-left political parties, and is also active in the trade-union movement...

 faction. In the 2002 elections

New Zealand general election, 2002

The 2002 New Zealand general election was held on 27 July 2002 to determine the composition of the 47th New Zealand Parliament. It saw the reelection of Helen Clark's Labour Party government, as well as the worst-ever performance by the opposition National Party.Arguably the most controversial...

, he stood again as an Alliance candidate, gaining 0.5% of the vote in Waimakariri. He was not on the party list. After Harré and McCarten also left the Alliance, Piesse was elected co-leader, alongside Jill Ovens

Jill Ovens

Jill Ovens is a New Zealand Unionist and former political candidate.-Union leader:She previously had a long history involved in New Zealand Unions, having served as the president of the Association of Staff in Tertiary Education and was heavily involved in the CTU Women’s Council Convenor and...

.

Piesse was elected President of the Alliance Party at the 2007 national conference held in Dunedin. In the 2008 elections

New Zealand general election, 2008

The 2008 New Zealand general election was held on 8 November 2008 to determine the composition of the 49th New Zealand parliament. The conservative National Party, headed by its Parliamentary leader John Key, won a plurality of votes and seats, ending 9 years of government dominated by the social...

 he contested the Christchurch East

Christchurch East

Christchurch East is a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate. It is currently held by Lianne Dalziel of the Labour Party.-History:The electorate was first created, as Christchurch City East, for the...

electorate and was number 4 on the Alliance Party list. He fared poorly, coming eighth with only 119 votes. The Alliance also did badly, winning only 0.08% of the party vote nationwide.