Most support voluntary euthanasia: survey

The majority of New Zealanders support legalised voluntary euthanasia, according to new research by Colmar Brunton.

The company carried out research on behalf of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of New Zealand (VESNZ).

It found that 71 percent of New Zealanders wanted the legal right to choose a medically assisted death if they had an illness or condition from which they had no hope of returning to an acceptable quality of life, VESNZ president Jack Jones said today.

He said VESNZ intended to pursue a robust campaign to make legalised voluntary euthanasia a serious election issue.

"The society will ask all political parties and individual candidates to state their position on appropriate legislation," Mr Jones said.

The survey results were based on the opinions of 1001 New Zealanders aged 15 years and over and the maximum margin of error was 3.1 percent.