The MMP guide

Undecided about the electoral system vote? Listener political columnist Jane Clifton steps through the MMP minefield.

Illustration Chris Slane

There could hardly be a worse time for a debate on whether to upheave the nation by ditching MMP. Beside the rather more pressing global and local concerns voters face, there’s the ironic possibility that this election the MMP system could yield an old-fashioned first-past-the-post result. Opinion polls have frequently portended that National has enough support to govern alone. History is against this, as the major parties’ polling traditionally closes up as polling day approaches. Lately, the Government has faced, and at times bungled, extra challenges that seem set to reduce its poll dominance. But the state of the opinion polls seems a fitting backdrop to the apparent voter ambivalence about how to improve the voting system.

MMP is often popularly associated with political expediency, controversy, threats and standoff – some even suggest it stands for Many More Problems. But it can be hard to distinguish what is simply typical opportunistic political behaviour, and what is specifically MMP-engendered behaviour.

Although the referendum has struggled for oxygen on the political agenda, it remains voters’ best and only chance to address a slew of niggles about MMP. Both its detractors and its supporters want change – often the same sort of change – to the vote thresholds and the list system. One reason for the public’s lack of engagement on the subject may be confusion. While in Opposition, National committed itself to having a further referendum to test MMP’s support, even though many of its MPs would have preferred to look at ironing out MMP’s flaws first. So, rather than trying to address the problems many voters have with the system, the Government is pitting the still-flawed version of MMP against rival systems for this referendum. Only after that vote will it consider how MMP might be improved.

What you’re voting for
This first, non-binding referendum will pit MMP against four other electoral systems: our old system of first past the post (FPP); supplementary member, which is FPP with a 30-seat top-up based on overall party vote preferences; and preferential voting and single transferable voting, both of which require voters to rank candidates in order of preference, with the preferences reassigned until a candidate has support over a specified threshold. If voters opt to keep MMP, then the Electoral Commission will convene a full review of its workings next year. If voters favour another system, then in the next election that system will be pitted against MMP in a binding referendum.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5