New Zealand Parliament

The New Zealand Parliament is the legislative body of the New Zealand government.

Parliamentary elections

Election to the New Zealand Parliament is by the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system, which provides for proportional representation. The MMP system means that there are usually several parties present in Parliament — at present, there are eight. The MMP system replaced the old "first-past-the-post" system after a referendum in 1993. The first MMP vote was at the 1996 election.

Related Topics:
Mixed Member Proportional - Proportional representation - Several parties - First-past-the-post - 1993 - 1996 election

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Under the MMP system, the size of Parliament is normally 120 MPs. Slightly more than half of these (referred to as 'electorate MPs') are chosen from geographical electorates on a first-past-the-post basis; the remainder are chosen from closed party lists and are known as 'list MPs'. A candidate may contest an electorate, appear on the list, or both; candidates who have won electorate seats are eliminated from party lists before the list MPs are named.

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The number of electorate MPs is calculated in three steps. The less populated of New Zealand's two principal islands, the South Island, has a fixed quota of 16 seats. The number of seats for the North Island and the number of special reserved seats for Maori are then calculated in proportion to these. (The Maori seats have their own special electoral roll; people of Maori descent may opt to enroll either on this roll or on the general roll, and the number of Maori seats is determined with reference to the number of adult Maori who opt for the Maori roll.)

Related Topics:
South Island - North Island - Maori seats

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The number of electorates is recalculated, and the boundaries of each redrawn so as to make them approximately equal in population within a tolerance of plus or minus 5%, after each quinquennial census. After the 2001 census, there were 7 Maori electorates and 62 general electorates, or 69 electorates in total. There were therefore normally 51 list MPs. By a quirk of timing, the 2005 election was the first election since 1990 at which the electorates were not redrawn since the previous election. The next census will be in 2006 and will apply to the 2008 election.

Related Topics:
Quinquennial - Census - 2001 - 2005 election - 1990 - 2006 - 2008

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A party is not entitled to any list MPs unless it either wins 5% of the "party vote" (the more important of the two votes in MMP, which determines the overall proportionality of Parliament) or wins at least one electorate seat. The electorate-seat escape clause has twice saved parties from Parliamentary oblivion: New Zealand First in 1999 gained 4.26% of the party vote and five MPs thanks to its leader's razor-thin 63-vote margin in his home electorate of Tauranga, and Jim Anderton's Progressive Coalition (later renamed the "Progressive Party") gained two MPs from 1.7% of the vote after its leader comfortably held his electorate of Wigram. In addition, in both 1996 and 1999 the United Party won an electorate, but not enough party votes to entitle it to any additional list MPs.

Related Topics:
New Zealand First - 1999 - Jim Anderton's Progressive Coalition - 1996 - United

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If a party wins more electorate seats than it would be entitled to proportionally, the size of Parliament is increased by the number of these so-called "overhang MPs" until the next election. This first occurred in the 2005 election.

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