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We’ve had MMP for central government elections in NZ for a while now. It is better than FPP in every way.
It’s not perfect, but let’s not make perfect the enemy of good.
We tend to use STV (ranked choice) for local government elections. That’s generally more confusing for people but localises the effects of that. Again, better than FPP.
What helped initiate the change to MMP? Like what do you think it took and will take in the present to make that happen?
There’s a history here https://elections.nz/democracy-in-nz/what-is-new-zealands-system-of-government/what-is-mmp/the-history-of-mmp/
TL;DR: seats in parliament being disproportionate to the actual vote distribution was the trigger. That the two major parties kept getting screwed by the disproportionate seats for them to agree to a review
Thanks, great read.
Here we are still having problems to get the referendum going. Because the major parties were alternating for a while, so they always vote against it. It will be difficult to screw them both with disproportionate seats. This recent election, benefited them both.
We shouldn’t push for a referendum as those have a high likelihood of failing, New Zealand and Switzerland were very lucky in getting theirs passed.
Most countries get their system of proportional representation when the mps under different banners work together to pass it. We must pressure the conservatives and liberals to support electoral reform!
https://www.fairvote.ca/how-democracies-adopted-proportional-representation/
Canada has had 9 failed referendums:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Electoral_reform_referendums_in_Canada
