Everything you need to know about the electoral system in New Zealand
Everything you need to know about the electoral system in New Zealand
New Zealand has a representative democracy.
If you’re a citizen or permanent resident aged 18 years and over, and have lived in New Zealand continuously for 12 months or more at some time in your life, you are eligible to vote in general elections, local elections and referendums, and must enrol to vote. Voting is not compulsory though.
New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy
New Zealand has an unwritten constitution and is a constitutional monarchy. That means that the Queen of New Zealand, Queen Elizabeth II, is our Head of State. The Queen’s representative in New Zealand is the Governor-General. The Queen and Governor-General are politically neutral and do not get involved in elections. The Governor-General carries out a mixture of constitutional, ceremonial and community duties.
How New Zealand’s Parliament works
Our Parliament is made up of - the House of Representatives comprising of MPs who have been elected in their electorate or from a party list, and the Governor-General. The House is elected for a maximum 3-year term using the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) voting system.
Prime Minister announces election date
Before Parliament’s maximum term of 3-years is over, the Prime Minister (PM) must decide when the next general election will be held. Once the PM announces the date, the general election cycle starts, following the rules in the Constitution Act 1986 and the Electoral Act 1993.
Parliament dissolves and the Governor-General delivers the ‘writ’
At the end of each 3-year term, Parliament dissolves. The Governor-General then gives the chief electoral officer a written notice (a writ) saying that a general election needs to be held. The writ includes the election date, deadline for nominating candidates, and the deadline for returning the writ with the names of the winning candidates.
What is MMP?
MMP is the voting system we use in New Zealand. It stands for ‘Mixed Member Proportional’. Under MMP, you get two votes — a party vote and an electorate vote.
Party vote: When you vote for a party, you help to choose how many seats in Parliament each party gets. The party vote largely decides the total number of seats each political party gets.
Electorate vote: When you vote for a candidate, you help to choose who represents the electorate you live in. This is called your electorate vote. The candidate with the most votes wins, and becomes an MP.
Under current MMP rules, a political party that wins at least one electorate seat, or five percent of the party vote, gets a share of the seats in Parliament. This share is about the same as its share of the party vote.
The total number of seats a party can have is first determined by the party vote. Then, the number of electorate seats the party has won are subtracted from this total.
Finally, candidates are elected to Parliament from each party’s list so that the number of list seats, plus the number of electorate seats, equals the total number of seats each party is entitled to.
How seats in Parliament are allocated
Under MMP, 120 MPs are elected to Parliament — 72 are elected by just the voters in electorates around the country and 48 are from political party lists (elected by all voters in New Zealand). It is a proportional system, which means that the proportion of votes a political party gets reflects the number of seats it has in Parliament.
Every candidate who wins an electorate gets a seat in Parliament. They are called electorate MPs.
The remaining seats are filled from party lists. Every party has a party list, which is a list of candidates ranked in the order the party wants those candidates to be elected to Parliament. Candidates elected from a party list are called list MPs.
For example, a party with 30% of the party vote gets about 36 seats - 30% of the 120 seats in Parliament.
Now, if the same party also wins 20 electorate seats, 36 minus 20, that is 16 seats will go to candidates from the party’s list.
Parliament overhangs - if a party wins more electorates than its share of the party vote
A party can win more electorates than seats it's entitled to from its share of the party vote. The party keeps the extra seats, creating an overhang. The size of Parliament increases by the number of extra seats until the next general election. An overhang does not affect the number of seats other parties get.
For example, a party with 5% of the party vote would normally get about six seats. If that party also wins seven electorates, it gets seven electorate MPs and no list MPs. The total number of MPs increases to 121.
New Zealand has had three Parliaments with overhangs:
From 2005 to 2008, there were 121 MPs
From 2008 to 2011, there were 122 MPs
From 2011 to 2014, there were 121 MPs
(All details above are courtesy www.elections.nz and www.parliament.nz)
Work at the 2020 General Election
Hiring is underway for the 2020 General Election with people needed to fill over 25,000 roles. "This is an opportunity to be part of the election team and help voters have their say at the 19 September election and referendums,” says Chief Electoral Officer, Alicia Wright.
A variety of roles are available including working in voting places and counting votes. The work can last from one day to a couple of months over the election period. “They are all paid roles and we’ll provide the training and support you need to do a good job,” says Alicia Wright.
“Voting places are run by people who live in the area, so it’s a great way to get involved in your community.”
For more information about working at the election go to www.elections.nz/jobs/work-at-the-2020-general-election/
-courtesy www.elections.nz
Important dates for the 2020 General Election
The 2020 General Election will be held on Saturday 19 September along with the End of Life Choice and cannabis referendums.
Voting starts on 5 September
If you’re in New Zealand, you’ll be able to vote from Saturday, 5 September, to 7pm on election day, Saturday, 19 September. You can vote from overseas from Wednesday, 2 September.
Voting places open across New Zealand, so everyone has a chance to vote. We’ll open more voting places than usual to reduce queues. We also encourage you to vote locally if you can.
We’ll release preliminary election results on election day
We’ll release preliminary election results from 7pm on 19 September at www.electionresults.govt.nz. We’ll count referendum votes after election day, and release the preliminary referendum results on Friday 2 October. We’ll release the official results for the general election and referendums on Friday 9 October.
-by www.elections.nz
Vote in two referendums at this year’s general election
At this year’s general election, you can also vote in two referendums. At your voting place, you’ll get a voting paper for the referendums with your voting paper for the election.
You can vote on whether the recreational use of cannabis should become legal.
You can also vote on whether the End of Life Choice Act 2019 should come into force, giving people with a terminal illness the option of requesting assisted dying.
Find out more about the referendums at www.referendums.govt.nz