New Democrats (Victoria)

The New Democrats (ND), also known as the New Democrats Party (NDP), is an Australian political party founded in 2022 by then-Victorian MLC Kaushaliya Vaghela.

Background
On 9 February 2022, Vaghela (then a member of the Labor Party) crossed the floor in support of Adem Somyurek's motion to refer the Andrews government to the Victorian Ombudsman in relation to the alleged misuse of taxpayer funds, involving the diversion of parliamentary staffing resources to political campaigning and party factional activities prior to the 2014 Victorian state election.

In March 2022, Vaghela resigned from Labor to sit as an independent, making serious allegations of bullying against the party. Her criticisms were aired after she had been left off the Labor ticket for the 2022 state election, following an investigation by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) into the conduct of her husband, Dinesh Chauhan, and staff members.

Formation and 2022 election
On 11 August 2022, Vaghela formed the New Democrats and applied for registration with the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC). The party was registered on 6 October 2022, 51 days before the state election.

At the election, Vaghela was unsuccessful in her bid to be re-elected to the Western Metropolitan Region, receiving 0.55% of the vote. The party received a total statewide vote of 0.13% in the Legislative Assembly and 0.21% in the Legislative Council (the lowest statewide total for any registered party in the Legislative Council).