Electoral system of New Zealand

The electoral system of New Zealand governs the way in which are elected the Député S with the Chambre of the representatives of New Zealand. It is about a mixed system of representation proportional. It was adopted at the time of the reform of the electoral sytème in 1993, thus replacing the old system of uninominal vote to a turn which was into force before.

Maximum duration of the legislature

The maximum duration of each Législature is fixed at three years as from the beginning of its first session. In practice, that means that general election must be held, at the latest, approximately three years and two months after the preceding general election. For example, since an general election had taken place on July 27th, 2002 and that the legislature which resulted had started some to sit in September of the same year, it resulted from this that the following general election was to take place at the latest on September 24th, 2005.

Representation proportional mixed

The electoral system is that of the representation proportional mixed, i.e. it provides on the one hand the election of a certain number of deputies of electoral constituencies (approximately 70 deputies), elected according to the uninominal mode with a turn, and on the other hand the election of a certain number of deputies of lists of political parties (approximately 50 deputies), distributed between the various political parties so that to final the total proportion of deputies of each party in the Room of the representatives corresponds to the proportion of the votes which was granted to this party by the electorate. This system is thus, in its general principle, similar to the mode proportional mixed several other countries, for example with the German Electoral system.

Concretely, at the time of an general election, a New Zealand voter has to register two distinct votes: on the one hand a vote of district and on the other hand a vote of party. For the vote of district, the voter registers a vote in favor of one of the candidates who present themselves in his electoral constituency; the candidate who receives the most votes in the district is elected, according to the uninominal mode with a turn. For the vote of party, the voter registers a vote in favor of one of the political parties of the country, which determined their list of candidates beforehand; the whole of the votes of party expressed by the electorate determines the proportion of deputies which each party will have with the legislature. Since the voter has two distinct votes, it can register its vote of party in favor of a party other than that to which the candidate of district is affiliated for which it votes. That makes it possible the voter to express independently his preference for a local candidate and his preference for a party on the level of the country. Thus, at the time of the election of 2005, approximately 20% of the elected deputies of district belonged to a party other than the party having collected the greatest number of votes of party in this same district.

Only the political parties which received at least 5% of the votes of party expressed by the whole of the electorate or having succeeded in making elect at least a deputy of district can divide the seats of deputies of lists. At the time of the election of 2005, three political parties having collected less than 5% of the votes of party could be entitled to deputies of lists because they had succeeded in making elect at least a candidate of district.

The exact number of seats to which each political party is entitled to the legislature is determined by the application of the method of calculating called method of Holy-Laguë. If one or more independent deputies of district were elected, the number of as a basis seats being used of calculation is consequently reduced. The difference between the full number of seats to which a party has right and the number of deputies of district that it made elect determines the number of deputies of list which he obtains. If, exceptionally, a party succeeded in making elect a number of deputies of district which represents more than the proportion of seats to which it would have normally had right, it is said that it profits from a overhang and it can preserve all its deputies of district but does not obtain any deputy of list.

Electoral constituencies

A characteristic of the New Zealand electoral system is that a certain number of electoral constituencies are reserved to the voters of descent maorie. The whole of the territory of New Zealand is cut out according to two superimposed electoral maps. On the one hand it is cut out in general electoral constituencies. In addition, the whole of the territory is also cut out in electoral constituencies, much vaster, reserved for the Māoris. The voters of descent maorie can choose to be registered on the electoral roll of the general districts or on the electoral roll of the districts reserved for Māoris.

The number of electoral constituencies is determined as follows. The Island of the South (one of the two islands principlales forming New Zealand), has a fixed number of 16 districts. The number of districts of the Island of North as well as the number of districts reserved for Maoris are then adjusted so that each district includes/understands an about equivalent number of voters, who should not vary of more than 5% compared to the average.

The number of electoral constituencies is recomputed and their limits are redrawn, according to the criteria above, after each quinquennial Recensement. Following the census of 2001, there were 62 general districts and 7 districts reserved for Māoris, for a total of 69 districts. That thus left 51 seats available for the deputies of lists, to arrive on the whole envisaged of 120 seats of deputies at the legislature. A census took place on March 7th, 2006, after which the new electoral map was published on September 25th, 2007. This one creates an additional district on the Island of North. With the next general election, planned for the year 2008, there will be thus 63 general electoral constituencies and 7 districts maories, for a total of 70 electoral constituencies, and 50 seats of deputies of lists, for a great total of 120 seats of deputies to the Room of the representatives.

See too

parliamentary System of New Zealand

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