MMP Flashcards
Timeline of MMP
- Geoffrey Palmer first recommends changing the electoral system.
- In 1986, the Royal Commission recommends MMP.
- In 1992 the first electoral referendum is conducted in which 86% of people supported a change in the electoral system.
- In 1993 the second referendum was conducted in which 54% of people were in support of MMP.
- The first MMP election happens in 1996 where National wins.
- The third referendum was carried out in 2011 with 56% of people supporting the retention of MMP.
- In 2012 the NZ Electoral Commission carried out an electoral review of MMP and offered some changes to the current system.
- In 2013 the government responds by not making any of the recommended changes.
What does MMP stand for?
Mixed-member proportional
How did National and Labour feel about MMP?
National and the conservatives were strongly against the idea as they felt it would lead to more unstable governments and economies due to the fact that a lot of the power would be given to smaller parties due to the necessity of coalitions.
Labour voted strongly for the idea.
What are some of the characteristics of MMP?
- It is a proportional voting system which means parties win the number of seats that are proportional to their share of the vote.
- It is a mixed member system as MPs can be elected either as electorates or lists.
- It is a Two vote system due to the fact that voters get both a party vote and also an electorate vote.
- Each party has a single national electorate list. There are no regional party lists.
- It reinforces the power of political parties.
What are the two thresholds?
- The 5% threshold.
2. The one seat threshold.
Describe the 5% threshold
In order for a party to win a proportion of seats they must win at least 5% of the overall vote. This means that if a party wins 4% of the vote they will not win 4% of the seats in parliament due to the fact they didn’t reach the 5% threshold.
Describe the one seat threshold
If a party wins an electorate seat but fails to reach the 5% threshold they can fill up their proportion of seats with list MPs. This means that if a party only won 3% of the vote, they wouldn’t meet the 5% threshold. However, if they also won an electorate seat they would be entitled to 3% of the parliamentary seats.
What is Dual-candidacy?
This means that an MP can be elected either as an electorate MP winner or as a list MP. This benefits the parties. If an MP fails to win their electorate they may still make it into parliament as a list MP.
What are the two types of party lists?
- Closed party list: In this instance, the party list is predetermined by the party itself. Parties sometimes use this as a chance to increase the representation of minority groups through list seats. However, some argue that a closed list takes away from the democratic quality of the system due to the fact that it doesn’t let voters determine the ranks of the party.
- open party list: In this instance, the party list is ranked by the voters. This can be said to increase the democratic quality of the process. However, it can also be argued that many voters won’t have a particularly great knowledge in regards to the party politicians. This could then lead to informed decisions in terms of ranking.
What came out of the 2012 MMP review by the NZ electoral commission?
- They recommended getting rid of the one seat threshold and lowering the 5% threshold down to 4%. In doing so this would make it fairer to those parties that narrowly missed out on the 5% threshold. It would also reduce the likelihood of very small parties that get in through the one seat threshold from being in very influential positions.
- The review was in favor of the retention of dual candidacy as well as for closed lists. This was in order to ensure that the parties themselves still retained some dominance and power during the electoral process. Dual candidacy also ensures that there is party unity and gives parties the opportunities to elect MPs that might otherwise not be elected in unwinnable electorates.
- They also recommended fixing a ratio for the number of electorate seats to list seats at 60:40. This is to ensure that there is equal representation of the north and south island. The rate of population growth in the north island is currently far greater than in the south island.
Why weren’t any of the recommendations carried out?
The government didn’t make any changes to the thresholds which was the main point of the review. This is likely due to the fact that National needed those parties that were elected through the one seat threshold in order to form a coalition government.
