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https://theconversation.com/mmp-in-new-zealand-turns-30-at-this-years-election-a-work-in-progress-but-still-a-birthday-worth-celebrating-194622>
"In a tidy alignment of round numbers, this year’s general election will also
mark the 30th anniversary of the binding referendum that ushered in the mixed
member proportional (MMP) system of voting. It will also be the tenth election
held under the proportional system, truly a generational milestone in New
Zealand’s political history.
But the public disquiet that led to the country voting out the old
first-past-the-post (FPP) system goes further back, at least as far as the 1978
and 1981 elections. Both saw the centre-left Labour Party lose, despite having
won a higher percentage of the vote than the victorious centre-right National
Party.
The winner-takes-all nature of FPP also sidelined popular minority parties. In
1981, for example, the Social Credit Party won 20.7% of the vote but only two
seats. In fact, most parties’ seats in parliament rarely reflected their share
of the vote.
In 1984, Labour commanded 60% of parliament, having won only 43% of the vote.
Six years later, National owned 70% of the seats based on 47.8% of the vote. As
Lord Hailsham famously put it, Westminster jurisdictions were (and are)
effectively “elected dictatorships”.
FPP governments tended to deploy their parliamentary majorities with the kind
of arrogance that eventually led to the vote for change. Moreover, FPP
parliaments failed to reflect the country’s demographic diversity: 77 of the 99
members of the final FPP parliament were men, there were only eight Māori MPs,
a single Pasifika MP, and no one of Asian heritage. Hardly a house of
representatives."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
