How does the New Zealand electoral system work?published at 04:14 GMT
New Zealand doesn’t have the simplest electoral system.
It uses “mixed proportional representation” or MMP, under which each voter gets two votes: a party vote and an electorate vote.
Through their electoral vote, New Zealanders choose a particular candidate from their electorate; the one who wins the most votes wins and becomes deputy for that region.
With party voting, New Zealanders help decide how many MPs each party will get in Parliament – the more votes, the more seats – proportionally. MPs are chosen from lists provided by the parties.
Parties must win at least 5% of the vote or win an electoral seat to enter Parliament.
This might not sound too complicated, but we haven’t talked about “overhang” yet. Or the Maori roll, both of which we will cover in our next articles.
Gn headline
