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Electoral Matters
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Join the Conversation
There’s a Constitution Conversation going on and you’re invited to be part of it!
A constitution is the set of rules that determines how a country is governed and how its people live
together. It reflects the country’s unique history, values and aspirations.
The Constitutional Advisory Panel is committed to ensuring that you – along with your friends, whānau,
family, colleagues, communities and iwi – have an opportunity to tell us what you think. It’s your
constitution and your conversation.
We invite everyone to submit their views on:
›› What are your aspirations for Aotearoa New Zealand?
›› How do you want New Zealand to be run in the future?
Near the back of this booklet, you’ll see a set of questions about some aspects of New Zealand’s electoral
system. We encourage you to consider these questions, chat about them with others and send us your views.
Electoral matters is just one of the constitutional topics that the Panel is considering. The other topic areas are:
›› The pros and cons of having our constitution written down in a single document.
›› The role of the Bill of Rights Act 1990 in our constitution.
›› The role of the Treaty of Waitangi in our constitution.
›› Māori representation in local and national government.
We want to hear from you!
You can make a submission by post, email or online. Submissions close on 1 July 2013.
For more information, go online to www.ourconstitution.org.nz or call 0508 411 411.
Join the conversation on www.facebook.com/TheConstitutionConversation
C onstitutional Advisory Panel
The Constitutional Advisory Panel is an independent advisory group set up to listen to, consider and
report on New Zealanders’ views about a range of constitutional issues. It will report back to the
Government by December 2013.
The Panel members are Emeritus Professor John Burrows (Co-chair), Sir Tipene O’Regan (Co-chair),
Peter Chin, Deborah Coddington, Hon Sir Michael Cullen, Hon John Luxton, Bernice Mene, Dr Leonie
Pihama, Hinurewa Poutu, Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Peter Tennent and Dr Ranginui Walker.
For more information about the Panel go to www.cap.govt.nz
Personal opinions expressed in this booklet do not represent the views of the Panel or the Government. They are presented here to
stimulate your thinking and conversations.
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NEW ZEALAND’S CONSTITUTION | Electoral Matters
Electoral Matters
An overview of our political system
New Zealand is a democratic country in which the members of Parliament (MPs) are elected every
three years. MPs are elected using the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system.
Citizens and permanent residents who are aged 18 years and over must enrol to vote. Every New Zealand
citizen who is registered on an electoral roll is also eligible to stand as a candidate for Parliament.
New Zealand’s Parliament has a minimum of 120 seats. The current Parliament comprises 63 general
electorate seats, seven Māori electorate seats, and 50 list seats. In the last General Election, 51 list seats
were allocated based on the share of party votes received so Parliament currently has 121 MPs.
New Zealand has other elected bodies including territorial local authorities, district health boards, and
school boards of trustees.
D id you know ?
In 1852, the British Parliament passed the New Zealand Constitution Act; a year later New Zealand had
its first Parliamentary election. Thirty-seven members were elected to the House of Representatives
but not every adult citizen was allowed to vote.
Reflecting the British system, the right to vote in New Zealand was determined by sex, age, nationality,
and the possession of property. Those excluded from voting for New Zealand’s first Parliament
included women, non-British residents such as Chinese settlers and Māori men who owned land
communally rather than under individual ownership.
Within half a century Māori seats were established, women had the vote and citizens aged over
21 years were entitled to vote as long as they were of sound mind and not a prison inmate.
Chatham Islanders were eventually included in General Elections in 1922 and the age of eligibility was
dropped, to 20 in 1969 and 18 in 1974.
NEW ZEALAND’S CONSTITUTION | Electoral Matters
3
Mixed Member Proportional (MMP)
Our Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system aims to reflect nationwide characteristics, values,
and opinions and to represent different groups, e.g. women, Māori, farmers, environmentalists.
It also seeks to ensure that the number of seats a party has in Parliament is more or less equal to its share of
the party vote.
Since its introduction in 1996, the effectiveness of MMP has been reviewed and debated. There have been
numerous occasions when different groups have considered reducing the size of Parliament but none have
resulted in a reduction in the number of members of Parliament.
New Zealanders confirmed MMP as our voting system in a referendum in 2011.
Number of electorates and MPs
There are currently 63 general electorates and seven Māori electorates. Each electorate is represented by
one MP. There are an additional 51 MPs selected from party lists.
New Zealand citizens over 18 years must enrol to vote. Only New Zealand Māori or descendants of New
Zealand Māori can register on the Māori roll (see Māori representation booklet).
Each electorate has about the same number of people and the geographical size varies according to
population density. The current range is about 50,000 to 63,000 people per electorate, including
Māori electorates.
There must be 16 South Island seats and about the same number of people in every electorate. This means
the size of all New Zealand electorates is determined by the population of the South Island.
The boundaries will be redrawn for the 2014 and 2017 General Elections, following the 2013 Census and
the Māori Electoral Option. An expected increase in New Zealand’s population will result in more electorate
MPs and fewer list MPs.
The Electoral Act 1993 provides for the current form of MMP with a Parliament of 120 MPs. If a political
party wins more electorate seats than the number determined by the party vote, those extra seats (known
as “overhang seats”) are not taken out of the 120. This results in an increase of the total number of MPs, at
least until the next election.
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NEW ZEALAND’S CONSTITUTION | Electoral Matters
Population distribution in New Zealand
The number of electorates and their geographic location is determined by the number of people living in
an area.
Population estimate for New Zealand (2010)
Based on a population
formula, around a third of
the electorate MPs in New
Zealand’s Parliament come
from the Auckland region.
Some MPs have to cover
large geographic areas,
such as the MP for the West
Coast-Tasman electorate,
because the size of an
electorate is based on the
number of people living in
it not its geographic size.
Northland
Auckland
Waikato
Bay of Plenty
Gisborne
Taranaki
Hawkes Bay
Manawatu–
Whanganui
4%
34%
9%
6%
1%
3%
4%
5%
Wellington
Marlborough
Tasman
Canterbury
West Coast
Otago
Southland
11%
1%
1%
13%
1%
5%
2%
Population information is estimated because the national Census planned for 2011 was cancelled after the
earthquakes in Christchurch.
NEW ZEALAND’S CONSTITUTION | Electoral Matters
5
The size of Parliament
In 1999 a citizens-initiated referendum on the size of Parliament was held in conjunction with the General
Election. Voters were asked: “Should the size of the House of Representatives be reduced from 120 to
99 members?” Of those who voted, 81.5 per cent voted for a reduction, however, Waikato nurseryman,
Andrew Bowman can see two sides to the issue.
“We had a referendum that showed more
than 80 per cent of Kiwis wanted less MPs,
which was ignored. I think 120 MPs is a few too
many but internationally it’s actually quite low
per capita.
“If you consider those two issues I think where
we are at is probably about right.”
ANDREW BOWMAN
Co-owner Twining Valley Nurseries
H ow does the number of MP s in NZ compare to others ?
In 2006, a select committee considered a private member’s Bill to reduce the number of MPs in
Parliament from 120 to 100. The select committee recommended that the Bill not be passed, and
noted that compared to other countries, New Zealand has a relatively small number of MPs.
In 2006, Iceland had 21.36 MPs per 100,000 people, Ireland 5.45 MPs per 100,000 people and New
Zealand 2.91 per 100,000.
(Source: Report of the Justice and Electoral Committee on the Electoral (Reduction in Number of Members of Parliament
Amendment Bill)
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NEW ZEALAND’S CONSTITUTION | Electoral Matters
Length of parliamentary term
In New Zealand, the House of Representatives is elected into Parliament for a maximum of three years. The
term is set by the Constitutional Act 1986 and in 1990 a proposal to increase the term of Parliament from
three to four years was defeated in a referendum.
The Prime Minister decides when the term of Parliament ends and the date of the next General Election. In
1950 it became a legal requirement to hold General Elections on a Saturday and since 1957 it has been an
established practice to hold elections on the last Saturday in November. Prime Ministers have called snap
elections at an earlier date.
L ong - term policy making
A number of political commentators and business leaders, including Mainfreight group managing
director Don Braid, want New Zealanders to think seriously about giving parliamentarians the ability to
govern over a longer term than the current three years.
“As a nation we need long-term policies, with
investment in infrastructure and business.
Under the current mandate of three years,
our politicians get about a year to implement
anything worthwhile – in between taking on the
mantle of government and getting research and
plans in place for the first year.
“This is followed by battening down during the
third year to avoid criticism that would impact
on re-election.
“At an individual level, New Zealanders also must
take a stake in the game by exercising a measure
of responsibility and voting for policies that
are good for the country as a whole, rather than
placing their individual wants and needs ahead
of the community’s.”
DON BRAID
Group managing director, Mainfreight
NEW ZEALAND’S CONSTITUTION | Electoral Matters
7
Electoral (Integrity)
Amendment Act 2001
After the first MMP election a number of list and electorate MPs left their parties but remained as members
of Parliament, which was commonly referred to as waka-jumping or party-hopping.
In response the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2001 was enacted, enabling the Speaker to declare
vacant the seat of an MP who left their political party or whom their party leader reasonably considered
had acted in a manner that distorted the proportionality of representation in Parliament.
The Act had a sunset clause, which meant it expired in 2005. A Bill was proposed in the same year to
reinstate the Act but it was not passed.
Waka - jumping back in the spotlight
Late in 2012 debate arose around Parliament over whether the old waka-jumping law should be
resurrected, after Brendan Horan was expelled from the New Zealand First caucus on 4 December.
Campaigners for MMP said there had to be strong democratic and natural justice principles at play for
any MP who’s expelled from their party.
Keep MMP spokeswoman Dr Sandra Grey said there must be an open and sound process for
expelling MPs.
“The things that we’ve been concerned about are that the processes the parties have put in place for
choosing the lists, choosing electorate candidates, and then if they need to get rid of them, there must
be a democratic process.
“It shouldn’t be left to a single person and it shouldn’t be behind closed doors.”
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NEW ZEALAND’S CONSTITUTION | Electoral Matters
The topic questions are a guide to help you with your
submission. We welcome other comments on the topics.
What do you think?
We invite you to think about and submit your views on:
1. How many members of Parliament (MPs) should we have? Why?
2. How long should the term of Parliament be? Why?
3. How should the election date be decided? Why?
4. What factors should be taken into account when the size and number of electorates
are decided? Why?
5. What should happen if a MP parts ways with the party from which he or she was
elected? Why?
Submissions can be made online, by email or post.
If you have any questions about how to make a submission, please call 0508 411 411.
You can make a submission in a number of ways:
Make a submission online at www.ourconstitution.org.nz
Email a submission to [email protected] with “CAP submission” in the subject line.
You can attach documents to your email.
Post a submission to:
Submissions
Secretariat, Constitutional Advisory Panel
C/o Ministry of Justice
DX SX10088
Wellington
Submissions close on 1 July 2013.
NEW ZEALAND’S CONSTITUTION | Electoral Matters 9
Glossary
Bills: Draft laws that are being considered by Parliament but have not yet become Acts.
Constitution: The set of rules about how we are governed and how we live together as a country.
Constitutional conventions: Practices that develop over time in order to fill certain gaps in constitutional arrangements, but are not always written down in the law, e.g. that the head of state only acts on advice from Ministers.
Dissolution of Parliament: The end of the Parliamentary term before a General Election. The Governor-General
is formally responsible for dissolving Parliament, on advice from the Prime Minister.
Fixed election date: Where the date of the General Election is fixed in law, meaning that an early election cannot
be called.
General Election: Voters’ opportunity to elect members of Parliament. In New Zealand one must be held every
three years, but can be held earlier.
Governor-General: Representative of the head of state.
Head of state: The chief public representative of a country, though their functions will differ between countries.
New Zealand’s head of state is the Queen.
House of Representatives: The single legislative chamber in New Zealand consisting of a minimum of 120
democratically elected members.
Legislation: Laws that have been passed by Parliament or under the authority of Parliament. The main sorts of
legislation are Acts and regulations. Can also describe laws that Parliament is still considering.
Parliament: In New Zealand, Parliament consists of the House of Representatives and the monarch. Parliament
makes laws and monitors the government.
Proportional representation: Parties are represented in Parliament at a level roughly equivalent to their popular
vote in an election.
Semi-fixed election date: Where the date of the General Election is established in law, but there are some
exceptions allowing for early elections, e.g. in the case of a government losing a vote of confidence.
Sunset clause: An expiry date on legislation or parts of legislation.
Term of Parliament: The length of time that Parliament sits before a General Election must be held.
In New Zealand the term of Parliament is a maximum of three years.
Vote of no confidence: Where a majority of MPs in Parliament vote that they no longer support the government.
For more information go to:
Elections New Zealand www.elections.org.nz
Citizens Advice Bureau www.cab.org.nz
The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand teara.govt.nz/en/constitution
New Zealand Election Results www.electionresults.govt.nz
New Zealand Legislation www.legislation.govt.nz
The Constitution Conversation www.ourconstitution.org.nz
10 NEW ZEALAND’S CONSTITUTION | Electoral Matters
For more information, go to
www.ourconstitution.org.nz
Join the Conversation
on www.facebook.com/
TheConstitutionConversation
NEW ZEALAND’S CONSTITUTION | Electoral Matters 11
Be part of the Constitution Conversation:
ION
UT
THE CONSTRITSATION
E
FEB–JUL
2013
CONV
ui
papa na ture
u
a
k
e
H
ap
te kaup
›› Talk to whānau, friends and family.
›› Access resources online at www.ourconstitution.
org.nz or order them by calling 0508 411 411.
›› Meet with colleagues, iwi or community groups to
discuss these issues.
›› Find out what others are saying by visiting
our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/
TheConstitutionConversation
›› Take some time and start reading.
›› Make a submission!
www.ourconstitution.org.nz
Our constitution is the set of rules that determines how
this country is governed and how we all live together.
It’s your constitution and your conversation.
6078 ELM_1
Be part of it!