New Zealand's electoral system

In the early years of colonial rule, parliamentary elections were held every five years, as indicated in the 1852 constitution. In 1879, due to concerns about the growing power of the central government, the term was reduced to three years ^[2] .

Since then, the term has changed four times. During World War I, it was increased to five years; in the early 1930s - reduced to four, and in 1935 returned to three years. During the Second World War, first increased to four years, and then returned to three. In 1956, the three-year term was , that is, it can be changed only as a result of a popular referendum (winning a majority) or if 75% of all members of parliament vote for the change ^[2] .

In 2013, the government established an advisory group on constitutional issues, including the duration of parliament. Among other things, the group considered issues of changing the number of seats in parliament, the need for a hard copy of the constitution, and the need for all bills to comply with the Bill of Rights ^[3] . Both Prime Minister John Ki and opposition leader supported the idea of ​​extending the term of parliament to four years ^[4] .

The last referendum on the possible extension of the term of the parliament was in 1990, about 70% of respondents expressed disagreement with the extension of the term of the parliament. A poll conducted by Stuff.co.nz newspaper on its website in early 2013 showed that of 3882 respondents, 61% agree with the extension ^[5] .

A unique feature of the New Zealand electoral system is the availability of reserved seats, which can only get representatives of the indigenous people of Maori . However, at the beginning of the colonial rule, Maori could vote only if they personally owned the land ^[6] . In those years, Maori appealed directly to the monarch and were not interested in the " Pakeh parliament."

During the New Zealand Land Wars of the 1860s, parliament passed a law on the representation of Maori ( English Maori Representation Act ) , which secured four seats (out of 72) for Maori. If the number of seats corresponded to the demographic division, Maori would have had 16 seats ^[6] . All Maori men over the age of 21 have received the right to vote and stand for parliament ^[6] .

Purebred Maori had to vote for candidates from the Maori contingent, and people of mixed descent could choose which candidates they were voting for. This system existed until 1975 ^[6] . Maori gained the right to be promoted to European seats only in 1967.

In 1985, the Royal Commission on the Electoral System ( Royal Commission on the Electoral System ) was established , which concluded that the reservation of seats does not bring Maori benefits, it would be more effective to proportionally vote on party lists. The Commission recommended getting rid of the reservation and moving to a mixed proportional electoral system, but most Maori wished to keep the reservation, with the result that the reservation was not only not canceled, but also linked to the country's Maori share. Because of this, in 1996 the number of seats for Maori was increased to five, and in 2002 - to seven ^[7] .

Secret Vote

Among Europeans, secret voting was introduced in 1870, ^[7] while Maori continued to report their candidate's name orally. The secret vote for Maori was introduced only in 1938. Until 1951, Maori voted separately from Europeans, often several weeks later. The first joint voting took place only in 1951 ^[8] .

In addition, until 1949, Maori did not compile voter lists under the pretext of difficulties with language, literacy, and Maori identity ^[6] .

Women's suffrage

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In the early years, New Zealand women were completely excluded from politics. Sufragist movement led by Kate Sheppard appeared in New Zealand at the end of the 19th century; the legislative council passed a law allowing women to vote in 1893 ^[9] . Thus, the New Zealanders were given the right to vote first in the world. However, they could only be elected in 1919; was elected in 1933 ^[9] . Two women occupied the prime minister’s seat ( Jenny Shipley and Helen Clark ), women remain under-represented in parliament ^[9] ; as a result of the 2011 elections , women had 39 seats (almost a third), making New Zealand 21st in the list of countries with the largest representation of women in parliament ^[10] .

The right of prisoners to vote

In 2010, the passed a bill banning convicts from voting ( eng. Electoral (Disqualification of Convicted Prisoners) Amendment Bill ) . The Governor General considered that this law violates the , which explicitly states that “every citizen of New Zealand is over 18 years old” ^[11] can vote. The Commission on Human Rights also pointed out the incompatibility of the law with the Bill of Rights and numerous international treaties. Until 2010, only persons with a term of imprisonment of more than three years were suspended from voting.

Member of the Society of Lawyers of the Commission on Human Rights, Francis Joychild, reported that courts in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, South Africa and other countries of the world have imposed a total ban on restricting the right to vote to prisoners in the last 10 years ^[12] .

Until elections were held on working days. In 1938 and , the date was changed to Saturday. In and , election day fell on Wednesday ^[13] . In 1950, a law appeared requiring the holding of elections on Saturday ^[14] , and, beginning in , elections began to be held on the last Saturday of November. Robert Muldoon broke this tradition by holding a election in July. Since 1999, the tradition has resumed, with the only exception in ^[15] . The last election was held on Saturday November 26, 2011 ^[16] . Elections of 2014 also violate the tradition: they would have to be held on November 29, and will be held on September 20, 2014 ^[17] .

Until 1994, a majoritarian electoral system was used in New Zealand, in which the government formed the party that won the majority. As a result, the last 60 years in the political arena of the country have been dominated by two parties, labor and national . It was difficult for smaller parties to obtain seats, with the result that a mixed proportional system was adopted. When it seats in the parliament are distributed not only by party lists, but also among deputies in single-mandate constituencies ^[18] . As a result of the first voting on a mixed system, the national and Labor parties no longer fully control the government; since then no party has been able to form a government alone.

Each voter has two votes. The first is given for a candidate in the . The candidate who has won the majority in his district receives a guaranteed place in parliament, despite the results of voting by party. The second vote is given to the party and determines the percentage of seats, departing a particular party.

If a party gains more than 5% of the vote, then it has the right to take seats in parliament, even if none of its candidates won in the single-member district; for example, in 2008, no candidate from won a majority, but the party itself entered parliament due to the fact that 6.7% of respondents voted for it ^[19] . On the other hand, the party, which gained 3.6% of the vote, won five seats due to the fact that their candidate won in County ^[19] .

The seats in parliament are first elected by district, and then party members from the lists. Sainte-Lagu Method is used . If the party does not have enough members to occupy all the seats received, these seats remain empty. When the situation is reversed, the party gets extra seats , so the number of members of parliament can exceed 120.

Strategic Voting

The two largest parties, the National and Labor, usually get a majority in single-member districts; thanks to this, they can support candidates of small parties in order to form a coalition, without fear of losing the majority. This is called tactical voting . Discussion of strategic voting by Prime Minister John Key and ACT candidate in a café led to a .

2011 referendum

, held in 2011, raised the question of switching to a majority , preferential , single voice system or system. 57.8% of the votes were cast for maintaining the status quo. After the vote, the Electoral Commission conducted an independent study of the current system.

In February 2012, the results of the work of the commission were published; Among the recommendations were received the following ^[20] :

• reduction of the percentage barrier for parties to 4%;
• the abolition of the minimum threshold of 1 chair (the party will have to get more than 4% of the vote in order to nominate candidates on party lists);
• the abolition of excess seats for parties that do not pass the threshold (instead, it is proposed to take the places obtained from the lists from the parties);
• preservation of by-election and voting rules;
• toughening the rules for choosing candidates for party lists (to ensure that the party follows internal rules);
• Parliament is recommended to consider fixing the ratio between single-mandate seats and places on the lists as 60:40 (in the 120-chair parliament - 72:48).

Parliament is responsible for all changes in the electoral system; since 1994, it has remained virtually unchanged.

In May 2014, Judith Collins and John Key reported that their parties did not reach an agreement on the changes proposed by the commission ^[21] .

The number of candidates elected in single-member constituencies is determined in three steps. For less populated South Island secured 16 seats. The number of places for Maori and residents of the northern island is calculated proportionally. The number of Maori seats is determined based on the proportion of New Zealanders with Maori ancestors who wish to vote on Maori lists.

The number of constituencies is regularly recalculated, and their borders are changed to correspond to the results of population censuses. After the 2001 census, 7 Māori districts and 62 general districts were present (a total of 69). After the 2006 census, another district was created on the North Island ^[22] .

shows how the distribution of seats corresponds to the voting of the population. The lower the resulting value, the better ^[23] .

As of September 2014, 19 parties were registered in New Zealand ^[24]

• The MMP Voting System - Mixed Member Proportional
• Sainte-Laguë allocation formula
• Virtual Election Calculator