Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
British Election Results under the fairer NZ electoral system (MMP)
THE BBC has published an article Lessons from New Zealand in art of coalition building. The UK election has been followed with much interest overseas, not least in NZ. I spoke to a friend in Christchurch (Canterbury, NZ) a moment ago and he noted an exercise in how the UK parliament would have looked if the seats had been allocated on the fairer New Zealand system of Mixed Member Proportional (a combination of direct election and proportional representation):
Party ____Seats, Actual ___MMP seats
Conservatives_____306___255
Labour__________258___205
Liberal Democrat ___57___162
Balance = other parties.
There is a threshold of 5% which excludes tiny parties unless they win a seat directly.
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Party ____Seats, Actual ___MMP seats
Conservatives_____306___255
Labour__________258___205
Liberal Democrat ___57___162
Balance = other parties.
There is a threshold of 5% which excludes tiny parties unless they win a seat directly.
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Tags for Forum Posts: MMP, New Zealand, Proportional, fair, representation, voting
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Ben Bradshaw (Exeter MP and Labour's Secretary for Culture Media & Sport) has been mentioning the NZ system all morning on the BBC as a model system for voting & representation.
The first thing Labour did when they got into power in 1997 (specifically Brown) was make the Bank of England independent. They got that idea from NZ as well.
Only three countries have the first past the post system in Europe and one of those is Malta. The UK is in a time warp and slow to change because it has suited the two 'old' parties to keep things as they are. No longer!
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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I believe the NZ electoral system is modelled on that of Europe's most successful economy: Germany. Their particular system – intended to be a paradigm of democracy – was imposed on them after the war by external forces ... Britain!
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Permalink Reply by Malc B on
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As a NZ expat, I've always felt that MMP has been shamefully ignored as a possibility for electoral reform in the UK. One of the main rejoinders from those opposed to PR (other than 'strong, stable government', as to which I think we can put to one side for now) is that you would necessarily lose the link between constituency and MP. Not so! MMP retains the link between constituency MPs and the constituency, while also ensuring (via 'top ups' from party lists) that the actual makeup of Parliament is proportionate to the votes cast. It took a few years for NZ Politicians to get the hang of it, but now it delivers stable, representative government.
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"Electoral Reform" as meant by Con/Lab means making Constituencies more of similar size – a task that the Electoral Commission is supposed to do anyway, so this is an empty proposition. Without the key proportional element, offers of Electoral Reform-lite are worth little.
Outgoing PM Gordon Brown offers – from a position of desperation and weakness – "immediate" legislation on electoral reform. Mr Brown and his party have had 13 years to do something about this. Is it remotely credible and can he be trusted?
I'm pleased Mr Bradshaw recognizes the merits of the NZ system, which is an awful system ... it just happens to be better than any other!
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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As a NZ expat
Oh God another agoraphobic.
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