Elections in New Zealand

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New Zealand

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Members of New Zealand's House of Representatives, commonly called "Parliament", normally gain their parliamentary seats through nationwide general elections, or (less frequently) in by-elections. General elections normally occur at least every three years in New Zealand, and operate using the Mixed Member Proportional electoral system. The Chief Electoral Office and the Electoral Commission co-ordinate the electoral system.

Contents

[edit] Overview of elections

[edit] Voting

New Zealand general elections occur when the Prime Minister requests a dissolution of Parliament and therefore a general election. Theoretically, this can happen at any time, although a convention exists whereby Prime Ministers do not call elections unless they have no reasonable alternative.

Elections always take place on a Saturday, so as to minimise work-commitments inhibiting people from voting. Voting (the casting of ballots) happens at various polling stations, generally established in schools, church halls, or other such public places. The 2005 election made use of 6,094 such polling stations.

The voting process uses printed voting ballots, with voters marking their choices (one vote for a candidate and one vote for a party — see Electoral system of New Zealand) with an ink pen provided for their use. The voter then places the voting paper in a sealed ballot box. Voters can alternatively cast "special votes" if genuinely unable to attend a regular polling place (for example, if they have travelled overseas, or have impaired mobility).

[edit] Timing of elections

New Zealand general elections generally occur every three years. Unlike some other countries, New Zealand has no fixed election-date, but rather the Prime Minister determines the timing of general elections. Convention dictates that a general election should take place roughly three years after the previous general election — unless a major crisis arises or the Prime Minister loses the ability to command a majority in parliament. The 1910s, 1930s and 1940s saw three elections delayed due to World War I, the Great Depression and World War II, respectively: the 1919, 1935 and 1943 elections would otherwise have taken place in 1917, 1934 and 1941 (Parliaments passed Acts extending their terms).

Section 17 of the Constitution Act 1986 describes the term of a Parliament as "3 years from the day fixed for the return of the writs issued for the last preceding general election of members of the House of Representatives, and no longer." Section 19 of the Constitution Act says that "Parliament shall meet not later than 6 weeks after the day fixed for the return of the writs for that election." The writ for an election has to be issued before the dissolution of the current Parliament.

Early or "snap" elections have occurred at least three times in New Zealand's history: in 1951, 1984 and 2002. Early elections often provoke controversy, as they potentially give governing parties an advantage over opposition candidates. Note that of the three elections in which the government won an increased majority, two involved snap elections (1951 and 2002) — the other incumbent-boosting election took place in 1938). The 1984 snap election backfired on the government of the day: many believe that the Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, called it while drunk.[1][2] See Snap election#New Zealand. The 1996 election took place slightly early (on 12 October) to avoid holding a by-election after the resignation of Michael Laws.

The Prime Minister's power to determine the election date can give the government some subtle advantages. For example, if governing parties believe that a section of the population will either vote against them or not at all, they might hold the election in early spring, when the weather may well keep less-committed voters away from the polls. Party strategists take the timing of important rugby union matches into account, partly because a major match in the same weekend of the election will likely lower voting-levels, and partly because of a wide-spread belief that incumbent governments benefit from a surge of national pride when the All Blacks (the New Zealand national rugby team) win and suffer when they lose.

Tradition associates elections with November — give or take a few weeks. After disruptions to the 36-month cycle, Prime Ministers tend to strive to restore it to a November base. Barring crises, the next general election should occur before Saturday 15 November 2008.

[edit] Electoral roll

The electoral roll consists of a register of all eligible voters, organised (primarily alphabetically by surname) within electorates. All persons who meet the requirements for voting must by law register on the electoral roll, even if they do not intend to vote. The roll records the name, address and stated occupation of all voters, although individual electors can apply for "unpublished" status on the roll in special circumstances, such as when having their details printed in the electoral roll could threaten their personal safety.

[edit] Electorates

Main article: New Zealand electorates

New Zealanders refer to voting districts as "electorates", or as "seats". Following the work] of the 2007 Representation Commission review, New Zealand from 2008 on will have seventy geographical electorates. The Commission added one general electorate in Auckland called Botany. The seventy electorates will include seven Māori electorates specially set up for people of Māori ethnicity or ancestry who choose to place themselves on a separate electoral roll.

All electorates have roughly the same number of people in them — the Representation Commission periodically reviews and alters electorate boundaries to preserve this approximate balance. The number of people per electorate depends on the population of the South Island — this, currently the less populous of the country's two main islands, has sixteen guaranteed electorates, so the ideal number of people per electorate equals the population of the South Island divided by sixteen. From this, the Commission determines the number of North Island, Māori and list seats, which may fluctuate accordingly.

Supplementing the geographically-based electorate seats, the system currently allows for fifty-one at-large "list seats". A nation-wide "party-vote" fills these seats from lists submitted by political parties; they serve to make a party's total share of seats in parliament reflect its share of the party vote. For example, if a party wins 20% of the party vote, but only ten electorate seats, it will win fourteen list-seats, so that it has a total of 24 seats: 20% of the 120 seats in parliament. (For further explanation see Electoral system of New Zealand.)

[edit] Vote-counting and announcement

Polling places close at 7.00pm on election day. The process of the counting of the votes by polling officials then begins. Results (at this stage provisional ones) go to a central office in the capital, Wellington, for announcement as they arrive. In recent years, a dedicated official website, "www.electionresults.govt.nz" has provided "live" election-result updates. Electoral officers generally complete the provisional counting of ordinary votes on the night of the election, but counting of special votes (see "Voting") can take longer, occasionally producing surprise upsets. In 1999 the provisional result indicated that neither the Greens or New Zealand First would qualify for Parliament, but both parties qualified on the strength of extra special votes, and the so-called "major parties" ended up with fewer list seats than expected. The final results of the election become official when confirmed by the Chief Electoral Officer.

[edit] History of voting in New Zealand

Main article: History of voting in New Zealand

The first national elections in New Zealand took place in 1853, the year after the British government passed the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852. Note that New Zealand claims to have become the first country in the world to have granted women's suffrage, although the accuracy of this claim depends on the definitions used (see Women's suffrage).

[edit] Results

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Flag of New Zealand New Zealand general elections
1853 · 1855 · 1860–61 · 1866 · 1871 · 1875–76 · 1879 · 1881 · 1884 · 1887 · 1890 · 1893 · 1896 · 1899 · 1902 · 1905 · 1908 · 1911 · 1914 · 1919 · 1922 · 1925 · 1928 · 1931 · 1935 · 1938 · 1943 · 1946 · 1949 · 1951 · 1954 · 1957 · 1960 · 1963 · 1966 · 1969 · 1972 · 1975 · 1978 · 1981 · 1984 · 1987 · 1990 · 1993 · 1996 · 1999 · 2002 · 2005 · 2008 · By-elections
Alcohol licensing, 1896–87 · Gambling, 1949 · Military training, 1949 · Pub closing time and alcohol licensing, 1949 · Pub closing time and parliamentary term, 1967 · Parliamentary term, 1990 · Voting method, 1992 · Voting method, 1993 · Firefighters, 1995 · Pensions, 1997 · Justice and MP reduction, 1999

[edit] General elections

The following table lists all previous general elections held in New Zealand (note that elections for Māori seats initially took place at different times from elections for general seats). The table displays the dates of the elections, the officially recorded voter turnout, and the number of seats in Parliament at the time. On the right the table shows the number of seats won by the four most dominant parties in New Zealand's history (the Liberal Party and the Reform Party, which later merged to form the National Party, and the Labour Party), as well as the number won by other candidates (either independents or members of smaller political parties).

Term Election Date(s) Official turnout Total seats Liberal  Reform Labour Others Indep.
United
National
1st 1853 election 4 July–1 October No record 37 - - - - 37
2nd 1855 election 28 October–28 December No record 37 - - - - 37
3rd 1860-1861 election 12 December–28 March No record 53 - - - - 53
4th 1866 election 12 February–6 April No record 70 - - - - 70
5th 1871 election 14 January–23 February No record 78 - - - - 78
6th 1875-1876 election 30 December–28 March No record 88 - - - - 88
7th 1879 election 28 August–15 September 66.5% 88 - - - - 88
8th 1881 election 9 December 66.5% 95 - - - - 95
9th 1884 election 22 June 60.6% 95 - - - - 95
10th 1887 election 26 September 67.1% 95 - - - - 95
11th 1890 election 5 December 80.4% 74 - - - - 74
12th 1893 election 28 November 75.3% 74 51 - - - 23
13th 1896 election 4 December 76.1% 74 39 - - - 35
14th 1899 election 6 December 77.6% 74 49 - - - 25
15th 1902 election 25 November 76.7% 80 47 - - - 33
16th 1905 election 6 December 83.3% 80 58 - - - 22
Second Ballot period
17th 1908 election 17 November, 24 November, 1 December 79.8% 80 50 - - 1 29
18th 1911 election 7 December, 14 December 83.5% 80 33 37 - 4 6
Return to FPP
19th 1914 election 10 December 84.7% 80 33 41 - 5 1
20th 1919 election 17 December 80.5% 80 21 47 8 - 4
21st 1922 election 7 December 88.7% 80 22 37 17 - 4
22nd 1925 election 4 November 90.9% 80 11 55 12 - 2
23rd 1928 election 14 November 88.1% 80 27 27 19 1 6
24th 1931 election 2 December 83.3% 80 19* 28* 24 1 8
25th 1935 election 27 November 90.8% 80 7* 9* 53 4 7
26th 1938 election 15 October 92.9% 80 25 53 - 2
27th 1943 election 25 September 82.8% 80 34 45 - 1
28th 1946 election 24 November 93.5% 80 38 42 - -
29th 1949 election 30 November 93.5% 80 46 34 - -
30th 1951 election 27 December 89.1% 80 50 30 - -
31st 1954 election 13 November 91.4% 80 45 35 - -
32nd 1957 election 30 November 92.9% 80 39 41 - -
33rd 1960 election 26 November 89.8% 80 46 34 - -
34th 1963 election 30 November 89.6% 80 45 35 - -
35th 1966 election 26 November 86.0% 80 44 35 1 -
36th 1969 election 26 November 88.9% 84 45 39 - -
37th 1972 election 25 November 89.1% 87 32 55 - -
38th 1975 election 29 November 82.5% 87 55 32 - -
39th 1978 election 25 November 69.2%** 92 51 40 1 -
40th 1981 election 28 November 91.4% 92 47 43 2 -
41st 1984 election 14 July 93.7% 95 37 56 2 -
42nd 1987 election 15 August 89.1% 97 40 57 - -
43rd 1990 election 27 October 85.2% 97 67 29 1 -
44th 1993 election 6 November 85.2% 99 50 45 4 -
MMP era
45th 1996 election 12 October 88.3% 120 44 37 39 -
46th 1999 election 27 November 84.1% 120 39 49 32 -
47th 2002 election 27 July 77.0% 120 27 52 41 -
48th 2005 election 17 September 80.9% 121 48 50 23 -
49th 2008 election 2008

* The United Party (a regrouping of the Liberals) and the Reform Party contested the 1931 and 1935 elections as a coalition, but did not formally merge as the National Party until 1936.
** Due to major problems with the enrolment process, commentators generally consider that the 1978 election had a significantly higher turnout than official figures indicate.[3] See New Zealand general election, 1978.

[edit] By-elections

Further information: New Zealand by-elections

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ REHABILITATED: TOM SCOTT
  2. ^ Sips causing political slips
  3. ^ General elections 1853-2005 - dates and turnout figures

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


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