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Despite New Zealand’s democracy being based on the British system, in 1996 Aotearoa abandoned the “first after post” system in favor of the MMP (proportional mixed membership). The change had been brewing since at least the 1950s and was a reaction to a gradual breakdown of trust in politicians and dominant political parties, and voters who wanted more options to choose smaller niche parties.
MMP means that voters must vote twice: once for their preferred party and the second for an electorate deputy.
There is a single chamber of parliament that generally has 120 MPs elected for a maximum period of three years, and the party (or parties, coalition governments are common in New Zealand) wins the most seats wins the right to form the next government.
Before the MMP, the previous system was dominated by two parties, Labor and National. Since its introduction, both parties have been forced into sometimes tense relations with coalition partners. Winston Peters’ NZ First party often plays the role of kingmaker in New Zealand elections.
In the last election, in 2017, neither National nor Labor won enough votes to govern alone and entered into protracted three-week negotiations with NZ First.
Peters said he ultimately decided to support Labor as he was in favor of “shaking up the status quo.” He was rewarded for his support with the foreign affairs portfolio and the role of deputy prime minister.
The alliance between Labor, NZ First and the Green Party has not been easy, and several of Jacinda Ardern’s flagship policies have been stalled by her coalition partners, most notably her failure to pass a capital gains tax, for what has been strongly criticized by his followers.
It has been Ardern’s policy not to comment on the coalition negotiations, or reveal which political parties have hindered progress, but it is widely understood that it has been a tense and difficult relationship with NZ First, veering to the right of politics, as that Labor is center-left.
Other countries that follow the MMP system are Germany, Bolivia and Lesotho. Countries that use the MMP do so to give smaller parties a fairer opportunity to gain representatives in parliament and create a more diverse government.
According to analysts, the switch to the MMP system has resulted in a more diverse New Zealand parliament, including more female, Maori, Pasifika and Asian parliamentarians.
In the last general election, a record number of Maori and women MPs were elected.
However, skeptics say the system gives too much power to small parties and makes fluid government complicated with sometimes difficult coalition agreements formed between traditionally antagonistic parties.
