New Zealand voting method referendum, 2011
Encyclopedia
The New Zealand voting system referendum, 2011, was a referendum
on whether to keep the existing mixed member proportional
(MMP) voting system, or to change to another voting system, for electing Members of Parliament to New Zealand
's House of Representatives. It was held on Saturday 26 November 2011, in conjunction with the 2011 general election
,
The referendum was indicative (non-binding), and asked two questions. The first question asked voters if they wished to keep the existing MMP voting system, or change to a different voting system. The second question asked which alternative voting system the voter would prefer if New Zealand were to change voting system: first past the post, preferential voting
, single transferable vote
, or supplementary member.
The official results are expected to be released by 2:00pm on 10 December 2011.
during the 1990s. A Royal Commission on the Electoral System
was established in 1985 by the Fourth Labour Government
, after the Labour Party had received more votes, yet won fewer seats than the National Party in both the 1978 and 1981 elections as a result of the existing first-past-the-post (FPP) system. It recommended the adoption of the mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting system.
On 19 September 1992, an indicative referendum was held on whether to keep the existing FPP system or change to a new system, and if the system was changed, which system should replace FPP. By an overwhelming majority, 84.7% voted to change the system, and 70.5% chose MMP as the replacement system.
A second binding referendum was held alongside the 1993 general election
on 6 November 1993, asking voters to choose between changing to MMP and keeping the existing FPP system. The final result much closer than in 1992, with MMP winning the referendum 53.9% to 46.1% (1,032,919 votes to 884,964).
The first general election under MMP was in 1996. Since then, four more general elections have been taken under MMP. The 2011 general election will be the sixth taken under this system.
, the National Party
got 44.93% of the votes and 47.54% of the seats; and while ACT got 3.65% of the votes and 5 seats, New Zealand First got 4.07% of the votes but no seats as they did not win an electorate seat).
Seventy electorate MPs are elected, one from each of the 70 electorates across New Zealand, using first past the post (one vote; highest number of votes wins). These MPs fill their party's share of the seats first. A party may win more electorates than seats it is entitled proportionally, resulting in one or more overhang seat
s and increasing the size of Parliament, as happened with the Maori Party
in 2005 and 2008. Any seats vacant after a party has allocated its electorate seats are filled by MPs from the party's list.
campaign, the National Party promised that if elected to Government it would hold a referendum on the voting system no later than 2011. National was of the view that it was time for the voting public to review the way they elected representatives. All the major political parties agreed with holding a referendum, although the Labour Party and the Green Party criticised the lack of an independent review of MMP before the referendum. They were of the view that National had a hidden agenda to replace the proportional MMP system with the semi-proportional Supplementary Member (SM) system, which has been described by Labour Christchurch East MP Lianne Dalziel
and Green co-leader Metiria Turei
as "first-past-the-post in drag". In the referendum legislation it was announced by Amy Adams
, MP for Selwyn and Chair of the Electoral Legislation Committee, that she did not believe the National Party would campaign in the referendum and instead suggested that "The whole purpose of this bill is for New Zealanders to make that decision" and this view has been reaffirmed so far at National Party regional conferences.
On 20 October 2009, Justice Minister Simon Power
announced that a referendum on the voting system would be held alongside the 2011 general election.
In the original version of the bill, there was no advertising spending limits. At the Select Committee stage, a $12,000 spending limit for unregistered promoters and a $300,000 spending limit for registered promoters was added in response to public consultation to "level the playing field", to "protect the integrity" of what is a constitutionally significant referendum, and to prevent wealthy individuals from influencing the outcome. This largely came from the original 1993 referendum legislation not having spending limits, allowing the anti-MMP Campaign for Better Government (CBG), which was backed by a large business lobby, to spend an estimated $1.5 million in advertising compared to the pro-MMP Electoral Reform Coalition's $300,000. The limits were also designed to match the new spending limits by third parties in general elections, which were introduced by the Electoral (Finance Reform and Advance Voting) Amendment Act 2010 that commenced at the same time as the Electoral Referendum Act on 1 January 2011.
Other amendments were proposed at Select Committee and Committee of the House but were not passed. The ACT Party proposed including a third question on whether to retain or remove the separate Maori seats (rejected due to a clause in the confidence and supply agreement between the National and Maori parties) and to increase the registered promoter spending limit to $500,000 or $750,000. The Labour and Green
parties proposed holding the review of the MMP system regardless of the referendum results.
The first question is "Should New Zealand keep the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) voting system?" The options provided are:
Simple Yes or No answers to this question have been avoided to reduce ambiguity – a problem that was encountered with the 2009 citizens-initiated referendum.
The second question is "If New Zealand were to change to another voting system, which voting system would you choose?" The four choices offered are:
for further scrutiny in 1986 and were voted on
in 1992.
There have been calls from the Labour and Green parties, and even the opposing Vote for Change group, to hold the review of MMP regardless of the result of the referendum to iron out problems in the current system before it goes to the second referendum.
On the decision for which voting system to vote for, the Electoral Commission said that no voting system is perfect, each system has its advantages and disadvantages, and it is up to the voters to decide. It did pose five questions for people to consider answers to on selecting a voting system:
electoral system leading up to the 2011 referendum
. It is headed by three spokespeople: New Zealand Tertiary Education Union president Sandra Grey, chair of the Republican Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand
Lewis Holden and Dunedin writer and historian Philip Temple
, and is supported by multiple people including former All Black captain Anton Oliver
.
The Green Party
"welcomed" the referendum proposal, but argued for the questions to be written by an independent body, and to have spending limits on the campaign. The party supports the retention of MMP, saying it is a fair and representative system. Its late co-leader Rod Donald
was a major advocate for the implementation of MMP in 1992/93, with the former co-leader alongside Donald, Jeanette Fitzsimons
, saying the implementation of MMP was his greatest legacy.
Major arguments for the retention of MMP are:
, former chairman of Telecom
(and main opponent of MMP in the 1993 referendum) Peter Shirtcliffe
, and former Mayor of Wellington Kerry Prendergast
. Bob Harvey
, former Mayor of Waitakere
, withdrew his support for the group on 3 July 2011 over allegations another founding member had white supremacist links.
Major arguments for a change of system are:
Peter Shirtcliffe, who campaigned against MMP in the 1992/93 referendums
, has again supported campaigning against MMP. In April 2010, he and the late Graeme Hunt launched the Put MMP to the Vote campaign to advocate for the removal of MMP and its replacement with Supplementary Membership. However in the announcement, he sent mixed signals on his opposition to MMP when he said that "Supplementary Membership already operates successfully in the Scottish Parliament
and the National Assembly for Wales
" - both legislatures actually use a variant of MMP and not SM. Shirtcliffe has also attacked the referendum process as flawed and called for a quicker second round of votes to allow any electoral system to be in place before the next general election, preferential voting on alternative voting systems and a question on the reduction of Parliament seats from 120 to 100.
Advance referendum votes will be counted by the Returning Officers on election night, once he/she has completed the count of the advance election votes, and will be released gradually on election night. In total, over 330,000 advance votes were cast, around 11% of the total New Zealand electorate, which the Electoral Commission believes should give a reasonable prediction of the overall result.
The official results are expected to be released by 2:00pm on 10 December 2011.
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
on whether to keep the existing mixed member proportional
Mixed member proportional representation
Mixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world...
(MMP) voting system, or to change to another voting system, for electing Members of Parliament to 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...
's House of Representatives. It was held on Saturday 26 November 2011, in conjunction with the 2011 general election
New Zealand general election, 2011
The 2011 New Zealand general election on Saturday 26 November 2011 determined the membership of the 50th New Zealand Parliament.One hundred and twenty-one MPs were elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives, 70 from single-member electorates, including one overhang seat, and 51 from party...
,
The referendum was indicative (non-binding), and asked two questions. The first question asked voters if they wished to keep the existing MMP voting system, or change to a different voting system. The second question asked which alternative voting system the voter would prefer if New Zealand were to change voting system: first past the post, preferential voting
Preferential voting
Preferential voting is a type of ballot structure used in several electoral systems in which voters rank candidates in order of relative preference. For example, the voter may select their first choice as '1', their second preference a '2', and so on...
, single transferable vote
Single transferable vote
The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...
, or supplementary member.
The official results are expected to be released by 2:00pm on 10 December 2011.
History
New Zealand's electoral system was reformedElectoral reform in New Zealand
Electoral reform in New Zealand has, in recent years, become a political issue as major changes have been made to both Parliamentary and local government electoral systems.- Parliamentary Electoral Reform :...
during the 1990s. A Royal Commission on the Electoral System
Royal Commission on the Electoral System
The Royal Commission on the Electoral System was formed in New Zealand in 1985, and reported in 1986. The decision to form the Royal Commission was taken by the Fourth Labour government, after the Labour party had received more votes, yet won fewer seats than the National Party in both the 1978 and...
was established in 1985 by the Fourth Labour Government
Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand
The Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 26 July 1984 to 2 November 1990. It enacted major social and economic reforms, including reformation of the tax system. The economic reforms were known as Rogernomics after Finance Minister Roger Douglas...
, after the Labour Party had received more votes, yet won fewer seats than the National Party in both the 1978 and 1981 elections as a result of the existing first-past-the-post (FPP) system. It recommended the adoption of the mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting system.
On 19 September 1992, an indicative referendum was held on whether to keep the existing FPP system or change to a new system, and if the system was changed, which system should replace FPP. By an overwhelming majority, 84.7% voted to change the system, and 70.5% chose MMP as the replacement system.
A second binding referendum was held alongside the 1993 general election
New Zealand general election, 1993
The 1993 New Zealand general election was held on 6 November 1993 to determine the composition of the 44th New Zealand Parliament. It saw the governing National Party, led by Jim Bolger, win a second term in office, despite a major swing back towards the Labour Party. The new Alliance and New...
on 6 November 1993, asking voters to choose between changing to MMP and keeping the existing FPP system. The final result much closer than in 1992, with MMP winning the referendum 53.9% to 46.1% (1,032,919 votes to 884,964).
The first general election under MMP was in 1996. Since then, four more general elections have been taken under MMP. The 2011 general election will be the sixth taken under this system.
Current system
A New Zealand MMP election gives the voter two votes: one for a party and one for the person they want to represent their electorate. The party votes determine what share of the 120 seats each party gets in Parliament, and the percentage of votes a party gets is ideally proportional to the percentage of seats the party gets. For example, if a party gets 25% of the votes, then they get 25% of the seats (i.e. 30 seats) more or less. A party only qualifies for seats if it passes the electoral threshold – one electorate seat or 5% of the party vote – so the number of seats a party gets may not be fully proportional to the votes (e.g. in 2008New 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...
, the National Party
New Zealand National Party
The New Zealand National Party is the largest party in the New Zealand House of Representatives and in November 2008 formed a minority government with support from three minor parties.-Policies:...
got 44.93% of the votes and 47.54% of the seats; and while ACT got 3.65% of the votes and 5 seats, New Zealand First got 4.07% of the votes but no seats as they did not win an electorate seat).
Seventy electorate MPs are elected, one from each of the 70 electorates across New Zealand, using first past the post (one vote; highest number of votes wins). These MPs fill their party's share of the seats first. A party may win more electorates than seats it is entitled proportionally, resulting in one or more overhang seat
Overhang seat
Overhang seats can arise in elections under the traditional mixed member proportional system, when a party is entitled to fewer seats as a result of party votes than it has won constituencies.-How overhang seats arise:...
s and increasing the size of Parliament, as happened with the Maori Party
Maori Party
The Māori Party, a political party in New Zealand, was formed on 7 July 2004. The Party is guided by eight constitutional "kaupapa", or Party objectives. Tariana Turia formed the Māori Party after resigning from the Labour Party where she had been a Cabinet Minister in the Fifth Labour-led...
in 2005 and 2008. Any seats vacant after a party has allocated its electorate seats are filled by MPs from the party's list.
Referendum planning
During the 2008 general electionNew 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...
campaign, the National Party promised that if elected to Government it would hold a referendum on the voting system no later than 2011. National was of the view that it was time for the voting public to review the way they elected representatives. All the major political parties agreed with holding a referendum, although the Labour Party and the Green Party criticised the lack of an independent review of MMP before the referendum. They were of the view that National had a hidden agenda to replace the proportional MMP system with the semi-proportional Supplementary Member (SM) system, which has been described by Labour Christchurch East MP Lianne Dalziel
Lianne Dalziel
Lianne Audrey Dalziel is a member of the New Zealand Parliament and was Minister of Immigration, Commerce, Minister of Food Safety and Associate Minister of Justice in the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand...
and Green co-leader Metiria Turei
Metiria Turei
Metiria Leanne Agnes Stanton Turei is a New Zealand member of Parliament and the female co-leader of the Green Party. she is the Green Party spokesperson on Social Equity, Electoral Reform, Māori and Treaty Issues, Housing and Children....
as "first-past-the-post in drag". In the referendum legislation it was announced by Amy Adams
Amy Adams (politician)
Amy Adams is a member of the New Zealand Parliament. She currently represents the Selwyn electorate and is a member of the National Party.-Private life:...
, MP for Selwyn and Chair of the Electoral Legislation Committee, that she did not believe the National Party would campaign in the referendum and instead suggested that "The whole purpose of this bill is for New Zealanders to make that decision" and this view has been reaffirmed so far at National Party regional conferences.
On 20 October 2009, Justice Minister Simon Power
Simon Power
Simon James Power is a New Zealand politician. He is a prominent member of the National Party and a cabinet minister. He currently holds the posts of Minister of Justice, Minister for State Owned Enterprises, Minister of Commerce, Minister Responsible for the Law Commission andAssociate Minister...
announced that a referendum on the voting system would be held alongside the 2011 general election.
Enabling legislation
The Electoral Referendum Bill to legislate the referendum was introduced to Parliament on 25 March 2010, and passed all three readings unanimously. The bill received its Royal Assent and became the Electoral Referendum Act 2010 (Public Act 2010 No 139) on 20 December 2010.In the original version of the bill, there was no advertising spending limits. At the Select Committee stage, a $12,000 spending limit for unregistered promoters and a $300,000 spending limit for registered promoters was added in response to public consultation to "level the playing field", to "protect the integrity" of what is a constitutionally significant referendum, and to prevent wealthy individuals from influencing the outcome. This largely came from the original 1993 referendum legislation not having spending limits, allowing the anti-MMP Campaign for Better Government (CBG), which was backed by a large business lobby, to spend an estimated $1.5 million in advertising compared to the pro-MMP Electoral Reform Coalition's $300,000. The limits were also designed to match the new spending limits by third parties in general elections, which were introduced by the Electoral (Finance Reform and Advance Voting) Amendment Act 2010 that commenced at the same time as the Electoral Referendum Act on 1 January 2011.
Other amendments were proposed at Select Committee and Committee of the House but were not passed. The ACT Party proposed including a third question on whether to retain or remove the separate Maori seats (rejected due to a clause in the confidence and supply agreement between the National and Maori parties) and to increase the registered promoter spending limit to $500,000 or $750,000. The Labour and Green
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is a political party that has seats in the New Zealand parliament. It focuses firstly on environmentalism, arguing that all other aspects of humanity will cease to be of concern if there is no environment to sustain it...
parties proposed holding the review of the MMP system regardless of the referendum results.
Referendum
When voting in the 2011 general election, voters will receive a purple referendum ballot paper in addition to their normal orange voting paper. The ballot paper asks two questions. Voters can choose to answer both questions, only one of the questions, or neither question. Once the voters make their choice, the referendum ballot paper is deposited in a separate purple-coloured ballot box under their respective electorates.The first question is "Should New Zealand keep the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) voting system?" The options provided are:
- I vote to keep the MMP voting system
- I vote to change to another voting system
Simple Yes or No answers to this question have been avoided to reduce ambiguity – a problem that was encountered with the 2009 citizens-initiated referendum.
The second question is "If New Zealand were to change to another voting system, which voting system would you choose?" The four choices offered are:
- I would choose the First Past the Post system (FPP)
- I would choose the Preferential Voting system (PV)
- I would choose the Single Transferable Vote system (STV)
- I would choose the Supplementary Member system (SM)
Alternative voting systems
First past the post was used in New Zealand prior to MMP, and the three other systems were recommended by the Royal Commission on the Electoral SystemRoyal Commission on the Electoral System
The Royal Commission on the Electoral System was formed in New Zealand in 1985, and reported in 1986. The decision to form the Royal Commission was taken by the Fourth Labour government, after the Labour party had received more votes, yet won fewer seats than the National Party in both the 1978 and...
for further scrutiny in 1986 and were voted on
Electoral reform in New Zealand
Electoral reform in New Zealand has, in recent years, become a political issue as major changes have been made to both Parliamentary and local government electoral systems.- Parliamentary Electoral Reform :...
in 1992.
- First past the post – There are 120 electorates across New Zealand electing one MP each, and each voter votes for an candidate in their local electorate. The candidate with the highest number of votes in that electorate is elected the MP for that electorate. This system was used for general elections in New Zealand prior to 1996, and is still used under the MMP system today to elect electorate MPs and conduct by-elections. It is also used by all regional councilsRegions of New ZealandThe region is the top tier of local government in New Zealand. There are 16 regions of New Zealand. Eleven are governed by an elected regional council, while five are governed by territorial authorities which also perform the functions of a regional council and thus are known as unitary authorities...
and the majority of city and district councils. Countries using this voting system include CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. - Preferential votingPreferential votingPreferential voting is a type of ballot structure used in several electoral systems in which voters rank candidates in order of relative preference. For example, the voter may select their first choice as '1', their second preference a '2', and so on...
– Also known as instant-runoff votingInstant-runoff votingInstant-runoff voting , also known as preferential voting, the alternative vote and ranked choice voting, is a voting system used to elect one winner. Voters rank candidates in order of preference, and their ballots are counted as one vote for their first choice candidate. If a candidate secures a...
(IRV) and alternative vote (AV). There are 120 electorates across New Zealand electing one MP each, and each voter ranks the candidates in their local electorate by order of preference, starting with 1 for their most preferred candidate. Using transfer of votes and elimination of candidates, one candidate will receive an absolute majority (50%+1) of the votes, and subsequently is elected the MP for that electorate. This system is used for electing mayors of some New Zealand city and district councils, including Dunedin and Wellington City. Countries using this voting system include AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
(lower house). - Single transferable voteSingle transferable voteThe single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...
– Voting is similar to preferential voting in that voters rank candidates on order of preference, with the major difference is that there are only around 40 electorates across New Zealand, returning three to seven MPs each. Using transfer of votes and elimination of candidates, the candidates with the majority of the votes are found and elected MPs for that electorate. This system is used by all district health boards to elect councillors, and is also used in multi-member wards of some city and district councils, including Dunedin and Wellington City. Countries using this system include Australia (upper house) and the Republic of Ireland. - Supplementary member – Also known as parallel votingParallel votingParallel voting describes a mixed voting system where voters in effect participate in two separate elections for a single chamber using different systems, and where the results in one election have little or no impact on the results of the other...
. Each voter receives two votes: one for a party and a one for their local electorate MP. In each of the 90 electorates across New Zealand, the local MP is elected using first past the post, and the candidate with the most votes is elected the MP for that electorate. In addition to the 90 electorate MPs, 30 list MPs are elected at-largeAt-LargeAt-large is a designation for representative members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent the whole membership of the body , rather than a subset of that membership...
using the party vote, with the proportion of the 30 seats a party gets being determined by the proportion of the party vote – if a party gets 30% of the party votes, it gets 30% of the list seats (i.e. 9 seats). It has never been used in New Zealand. Countries using this system include JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and South KoreaSouth KoreaThe Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
.
After the referendum
Under the Electoral Referendum Act 2010, the referendum results could trigger the two possible outcomes. In the unlikely event of a tie, then the keep MMP option will eventuate.Majority vote to keep the MMP system
If the voters vote in majority to keep the existing MMP system, then the system will be retained. Also under the Electoral Referendum Act, if the majority of voters vote to keep MMP, then an inquiry into the MMP system will automatically be undertaken by the Electoral Commission to see if any modification is desirable, including to thresholds (currently a party needs 5% of the party vote or one electorate to get seats in Parliament), the order of candidates on party lists (the inability of voters to rank list candidates in order of preference), proportionality (overhangs, and the effects of population change on the number of general electorate seats), and dual candidacy (electorate candidates also running as list candidates).There have been calls from the Labour and Green parties, and even the opposing Vote for Change group, to hold the review of MMP regardless of the result of the referendum to iron out problems in the current system before it goes to the second referendum.
Majority vote to change the electoral system
If the voters vote in majority to change to another electoral system, then the government following the 2011 election may call a second referendum to be held on or before the next general election (which assuming the 2011 election is held on 26 November, must occur on or before 31 January 2015). This second referendum, like in 1993, will allow voters to choose between the MMP system, and the alternative system that received the most votes in the 2011 referendum. The system that receives the majority in the second referendum will become the voting system for the following general elections.Electoral Commission
The Electoral Commission started its information campaign in late May 2011, sending out information on the voting process with its enrollment update campaign. It has launched a website, with information on the five voting systems.On the decision for which voting system to vote for, the Electoral Commission said that no voting system is perfect, each system has its advantages and disadvantages, and it is up to the voters to decide. It did pose five questions for people to consider answers to on selecting a voting system:
- Does the electoral system translate votes into seats reflecting the share of votes won by political parties?
- Does the electoral system produce parliaments able to represent and reflect the views of Māori, different ethnic groups and geographical regions, women and minorities?
- Does the electoral system produce stable governments able to fulfil their responsibilities?
- Does the electoral system produce parliaments able to scrutinise the actions and policies of governments?
- Does the electoral system allow voters to hold MPs and the government accountable?
In favour of keeping MMP
The Campaign for MMP group has been established to mobilise support for the MMPMixed member proportional representation
Mixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world...
electoral system leading up to the 2011 referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
. It is headed by three spokespeople: New Zealand Tertiary Education Union president Sandra Grey, chair of the Republican Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand
Republican Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand
The Republican Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand is an organisation formed in 1994 whose object is to support the creation of a New Zealand republic . It is Chaired by Lewis Holden. The patron of the Movement is Keri Hulme, a New Zealand writer famous for her 1985 Booker Prize winning novel The Bone...
Lewis Holden and Dunedin writer and historian Philip Temple
Philip Temple
Philip Temple is a Dunedin-based New Zealand author of novels, children's stories, and non-fiction...
, and is supported by multiple people including former All Black captain Anton Oliver
Anton Oliver
Anton David Oliver is a retired New Zealand rugby union footballer who most recently played professionally for the French second-division club Toulon, noted for signing veteran greats including former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga and great George Gregan...
.
The Green Party
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is a political party that has seats in the New Zealand parliament. It focuses firstly on environmentalism, arguing that all other aspects of humanity will cease to be of concern if there is no environment to sustain it...
"welcomed" the referendum proposal, but argued for the questions to be written by an independent body, and to have spending limits on the campaign. The party supports the retention of MMP, saying it is a fair and representative system. Its late co-leader Rod Donald
Rod Donald
Rodney David "Rod" Donald , was a New Zealand politician who co-led the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, along with Jeanette Fitzsimons.He lived in Christchurch with his partner Nicola Shirlaw, and their three daughters....
was a major advocate for the implementation of MMP in 1992/93, with the former co-leader alongside Donald, Jeanette Fitzsimons
Jeanette Fitzsimons
Jeanette Mary Fitzsimons, CNZM is a New Zealand politician and environmentalist. She was the co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand from 1995 to 2009, and was a Member of Parliament from 1996 to 2010.-Career:...
, saying the implementation of MMP was his greatest legacy.
Major arguments for the retention of MMP are:
- The system allows everyone's vote to be counted equally.
- The number of votes received by a party is proportional to the number of seats it obtains.
- The system allows parliament to reflect more representative cross-section of the general population.
- The system has allowed more women, Māori, Pacific Islanders, Asians and minorities to become MPs.
- The system produces stable governments, and changing voting systems would produce political instability until the system beds in.
- MMP is flexible and the system can be altered to suit.
- Voting for MMP will trigger an independent review to improve the system.
- Changing system without first fixing the current system is "throwing the baby out with the bathwaterThrow out the baby with the bath waterThrow out the baby with the bath water is an idiomatic expression used to suggest an avoidable error in which something good is eliminated when trying to get rid of something bad, or in other words, rejecting the essential along with the inessential....
"
In favour of changing system
The Vote for Change group has been established to mobilise support for a change in the electoral system. It is headed as spokesperson by Wellington lawyer Jordan Williams, and the group is supported by multiple people, including former Crown Minister Michael BassettMichael Bassett
Michael Edward Rainton Bassett, QSO is a former Labour Party member of the New Zealand House of Representatives and cabinet minister in the reformist fourth Labour government...
, former chairman of Telecom
Telecom New Zealand
Telecom New Zealand is a New Zealand-wide communications service provider , providing fixed line telephone services, a mobile network, an internet service provider , a major ICT provider to NZ businesses , and a wholesale network infrastructure provider to other NZ CSPs...
(and main opponent of MMP in the 1993 referendum) Peter Shirtcliffe
Peter Shirtcliffe
Peter Shirtcliffe, CMG is one of New Zealand's most experienced business leaders. He was the chairman of Telecom New Zealand, New Zealand's largest listed company, from 1990 to 1999. He received a CMG in 1988 and the New Zealand Commemoration Medal in 1990...
, and former Mayor of Wellington Kerry Prendergast
Kerry Prendergast
Kerry Leigh Prendergast, CNZM was the 33rd Mayor of Wellington . She was the second woman to serve as Mayor of Wellington, succeeding Mark Blumsky.-Before politics:...
. Bob Harvey
Bob Harvey (mayor)
Robert "Bob" Harvey QSO is the mayor of Waitakere City, one of the four cities which make up the Auckland urban area in New Zealand...
, former Mayor of Waitakere
Mayor of Waitakere
The Mayor of Waitakere was the head of the municipal government of Waitakere City, New Zealand, and presided over the Waitakere City Council. Waitakere City was New Zealand's fifth largest city. It was part of the Auckland region...
, withdrew his support for the group on 3 July 2011 over allegations another founding member had white supremacist links.
Major arguments for a change of system are:
- MMP has led to parties holding power over MPs, and voters can't easily hold government and MPs accountable
- The current configuration allows MPs voted out by their electorate to re-enter parliament via the party list (the "backdoor")
- Smaller parties currently hold a disproportionate amount of power in forming governments.
- There should be more certainty to voters in government formation more of the time, rather than having to wait for post-election negotiations.
- Governments should be held to their promises, rather than having to compromise on promises in coalition and confidence-and-supply agreement.
- There are too many list MPs serving the party executive rather than being accountable to the voting public.
- There needs to be a proper debate - the 2011 referendum will be lost in the excitement of the 2011 Rugby World Cup2011 Rugby World CupThe 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa at a meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005...
(which New Zealand hosted between 9 September and 23 October), so voting to change will allow a proper debate to take place at the second referendum. - Voting for MMP will allow MPs to manipulate any changes to the system to their own benefit.
Peter Shirtcliffe, who campaigned against MMP in the 1992/93 referendums
Electoral reform in New Zealand
Electoral reform in New Zealand has, in recent years, become a political issue as major changes have been made to both Parliamentary and local government electoral systems.- Parliamentary Electoral Reform :...
, has again supported campaigning against MMP. In April 2010, he and the late Graeme Hunt launched the Put MMP to the Vote campaign to advocate for the removal of MMP and its replacement with Supplementary Membership. However in the announcement, he sent mixed signals on his opposition to MMP when he said that "Supplementary Membership already operates successfully in the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
and the National Assembly for Wales
National Assembly for Wales
The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...
" - both legislatures actually use a variant of MMP and not SM. Shirtcliffe has also attacked the referendum process as flawed and called for a quicker second round of votes to allow any electoral system to be in place before the next general election, preferential voting on alternative voting systems and a question on the reduction of Parliament seats from 120 to 100.
Opinion polls and surveys
| Poll | Date | Part A | Part B | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keep MMP | Change system | Undecided | FPP | PV | STV | SM | Undecided/ Not asked |
||
| 1993 referendum | 6 November 1993 | 53.9 | 46.1 | - | |||||
| 20 October 2009 – Justice Minister Simon Power announces a voting method referendum will be held at the next general election. | |||||||||
| UMR Research | 27 October 2009 | 48 | 40 | 11 | n/a | ||||
| New Zealand Herald DigiPoll | 2 November 2009 | 35.8 | 49 | 15.2 | n/a | ||||
| TVNZ Colmar Brunton | December 2009 | 54 | 36 | 10 | n/a | ||||
| UMR Research Ltd | February 2010 | 49 | 42 | 9 | 37 | 18 | 12 | 4 | 29 |
| ShapeNZ (NZBCSD) | 9 August 2010 | 37.5 | 46.6 | 11.9 | n/a | ||||
| 20 December 2010 – Electoral Referendum Bill receives Royal Assent - final question wording set. | |||||||||
| TVNZ Colmar Brunton | 20 December 2010 | 50 | 41 | 9 | n/a | ||||
| New Zealand Herald Digipoll | 13 January 2011 | 51 | 40 | 9 | n/a | ||||
| 2 February 2011 – Prime Minister John Key announces general election and referendum date as 26 November 2011. | |||||||||
| UMR Research | 9 May 2011 | 50 | 40 | 10 | 40 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 32 |
| Research NZ | 16 June 2011 | 49 | 38 | 12 | 33 | 5 (combined) | 62 | ||
| New Zealand Herald Digipoll | 29 October 2011 | 48 | 35 | 15 | n/a | ||||
| Fairfax Media Research International | 11 November 2011 | 48.9 | 33.2 | 17.9 | n/a | ||||
| New Zealand Herald Digipoll | 11 November 2011 | 47.3 | 41.9 | 10.8 | n/a | ||||
| 3 News | 11 November 2011 | 55 | 37 | 8 | n/a | ||||
| One News Colmar Brunton | 13 November 2011 | 51 | 37 | 12 | 36 | 8 | 16 | 7 | 30 |
| New Zealand Herald Digipoll | 25 November 2011 | 54.4 | 35.0 | 10.6 | 29.9 | 11.4 | 17.2 | 13.0 | 28.5 |
| Poll | Date | Keep MMP | Change system | Undecided | FPP | PV | STV | SM | Undecided/ Not asked |
| Part A | Part B | ||||||||
Results
To prevent the delay of general election results, preliminary counts of the referendum results will not take place at polling places – instead the referendum ballot boxes will be unsealed, inspected, packaged and sent to the Returning Officer of the electorate for an official count.Advance referendum votes will be counted by the Returning Officers on election night, once he/she has completed the count of the advance election votes, and will be released gradually on election night. In total, over 330,000 advance votes were cast, around 11% of the total New Zealand electorate, which the Electoral Commission believes should give a reasonable prediction of the overall result.
The official results are expected to be released by 2:00pm on 10 December 2011.
Part A
See also
- Referendums in New ZealandReferendums in New ZealandReferendums are held only occasionally by the Government of New Zealand. Ten referendums have been held so far...
- Electoral system of New ZealandElectoral system of New ZealandIn 1994 New Zealand officially adopted mixed member proportional representation as its electoral system for the House of Representatives after many years of first-past-the-post voting. The first MMP election was held in 1996....
- Electoral reform in New ZealandElectoral reform in New ZealandElectoral reform in New Zealand has, in recent years, become a political issue as major changes have been made to both Parliamentary and local government electoral systems.- Parliamentary Electoral Reform :...