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New Zealand's New Electoral System: From FPP to MMP
Gerard Newman
Statistics Group
Background
On 12 October 1996 electors in New Zealand will have their first opportunity
to vote using the new Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system.
Since 1853 New Zealand has been using the first past the post (FPP) system
to elect members to the House of Representatives. The new system is a
result of a Royal Commission and two electoral reform referendums held
in 1992 and 1993.
The Royal Commission on the Electoral System was created in 1985 by
the Lange Government to report on (amongst other matters):
Whether any changes to the law and practice governing the conduct of Parliamentary
elections are necessary or desirable: and
Whether the existing system of Parliamentary representation . . should
continue or whether all or a significant number or proportion of Members
of Parliament should be elected under an alternative system.(1)
Given the terms of reference it is not surprising that the Royal Commission
recommended the Mixed Member Proportional system in its 1986 report Towards
a Better Democracy.
Following the Royal Commission, two referendums were held to introduce
the proposed MMP system. In the first referendum, held on 19 September
1992, voters were asked firstly to choose between electoral reform or
maintaining the first past the post system. The second part of the ballot
paper asked voters to indicate which of the four options for electoral
reform they preferred: supplementary member, single transferable vote,
mixed member proportional or preferential voting. The overwhelming results
of the referendum were a vote for change with 84.7% in favour of a new
system and a clear preference for the mixed member proportional system
which received 70.5% of the votes for change.
At the second referendum, held in conjunction with the 1993 general
election, voters were asked to choose between the mixed member proportional
system and the first past the post system. A clear majority, 53.9%, of
voters chose the mixed member proportional system.
MMP Example
Party
A B C D E F G Total
Party Votes 41 25 17 6 4 4 3 100
%
Electorate 34 21 9 0 1 0 0 65
Seats
List Seats 19 11 13 8 4 0 0 55
Total Seats 53 32 22 8 5 0 0 120
Notes:
- Party F and Party G won less than 5% of the Party Vote and are therefore
not entitled to any List Seats.
- Party E won less than 5% of the Party Vote but is entitled to a share
of the List Seats because it won an Electorate Seat.
- Each party that meets the 5% threshold has a slightly higher percentage
of all seats than its percentage of Party Votes. This is because the
share of seats is based on the shares of Party Votes after excluding
votes cast for parties that did not meet the threshold.
Source: New Zealand Electoral Commission
Mixed Member Proportional System
The Mixed Member Proportional system is an attempt to overcome one of
the perceived weaknesses of proportional representational systems, ie
the lack of individual constituency representation, by combining aspects
of proportional representation with single member constituencies. The
New Zealand system is based on the system operating in Germany since 1949.
Under the Mixed Member Proportional system electors are given two votes:
one to elect a constituent representative using the first past the post
system and a second vote to elect representatives from a party list using
proportional representation. The New Zealand system is further complicated
by the presence of five Maori constituencies. The major features of the
New Zealand system are listed below.
- Parliament will normally consist of 120 members: 60 members
elected from single member consistencies, 5 members from Maori constituencies
and 55 members elected from party lists.
- Electors will have two votes: one Electorate Vote to elect the local
member using the first past the post system and one Party Vote for the
party to be represented in Parliament.
- Members are elected from party lists using the "Sainte-Lague" form
of proportional representation (for an explanation of Sainte-Lague see
box).
- The total number of members in Parliament from each party will depend
on the party's share of the Party Vote. To achieve this constituency
members will be topped up from the party lists to achieve proportional
representation. For example, suppose Party A wins 30% of the Party Vote,
it will be entitled to 36 seats (30% of 120), but if it has already
won 15 Electorate members it needs 21 Party List members to achieve
its entitlement of 36 seats.
- A party must win 5% of the Party Vote or win at least one electorate
seat through the Electorate Vote to achieve representation through the
allocation of party seats.
- The final size of the Parliament may vary depending upon the final
allocation of list members required to achieve proportionality. A party
might win 14 Electorate seats but only achieve 10% of the Party vote
entitling it to 12 members. It is then allowed to keep the two extra
members and the size of the Parliament is increased to 122 for the duration
of that Parliament.
- Candidates may appear on both ballot papers but if elected to an Electorate
seat their name is removed from the party list.
- People of Maori descent can choose to be included on the Maori roll
and thus be entitled to vote in one of the 5 Maori electorates: the
Maori option is usually exercised after each 5 yearly Census.
Conclusion
The New Zealand Mixed Member Proportional electoral system is a radical
departure from the traditional first past the post system used for over
140 years. It remains to be seen whether the new system overcomes the
problems associated with the old system without introducing a new range
of problems. Some concerns with the new system are:
- voter confusion with the different functions of each vote,
- increased possibility of coalition and/or minority governments,
- possibility of Electorate members becoming less important because
of the 'top up' nature of the system,
- degree of elector involvement in the ordering of candidates on party
lists, and
- possibility of tactical voting between the Electorate and the Party
List vote.
Sainte-Lague Formula
The Sainte-Lague formula is one of a number of formulae that can be
used to allocate seats under party list systems of proportional representation.
The formula, devised in 1910 by the French mathematician Sainte-Lague;,
involves dividing each party's vote by a series of divisors (1,3,5,7,9
etc) and allocating seats to parties on the basis of the highest quotients.
Sainte-Lague divisors (rather than a straight numeric sequence of 1,2,3,4,5)
tend to favour minor parties over major parties by making it harder for
major parties to win each additional seat. In the following example 5
candidates are to be elected, (the order of electon is shown in brackets).
Party Party Party Party Total
A B C D
Votes 8700 6800 5200 3350 24000
Divide by 8700(1) 6800(2) 5200(3) 3350(4)
1
Divide by 2900(5) 2267 1733 1117
3
Divide by 1740 1360 1040 670
5
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