CHANGING DEMOCRACY

  BC and the politics of Middle Earth   

 

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Here's how MMP is described in Election New Zealand  brochures.

Your party vote is for the party you most want to be represented in Parliament. In general, the more Party Votes a party gets, the more MPs it will have in Parliament. You cast your Party Vote by ticking the circle after the name of one party. Your electorate vote is for the candidate you want to be your local electorate MP. The candidate who gets the most votes is elected to be the MP for that electorate. You cast your Electorate Vote by ticking the circle before the name of one candidate.
A ballot paper. Parties are listed on the left hand side, and candidates are listed on the right hand side.
To qualify for seats in Parliament, a party has to win at least 5% of all the Party Votes or 1 electorate seat.
If a party qualifies, its share of all 120 seats in Parliament will be close to its share of all the Party Votes.
The shares of all party votes leads to the share of all 120 seats.

So, in general, the total number of MPs a party has depends on the total number of Party Votes it gets at the election. And the more MPs a party has, the more influence it is likely to have in deciding who will be the government, what laws Parliament will pass, and what decisions will be made.

 

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