Elections in New Zealand

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Members of New Zealand's House of Representatives, commonly called "Parliament", normally gain their parliamentary seats through nationwide general elections, or (less frequently) in by-elections. General elections normally occur at least every three years in New Zealand, and operate using the Mixed Member Proportional electoral system. The Chief Electoral Office and the Electoral Commission co-ordinate the electoral system.

Local government politicians, including mayors, councillors and District Health Boards are voted in during the local elections, held every three years. These elections used both Single Transferable Vote and First Past the Post systems in 2007.^[1]

Contents 1 Overview of elections 1.1 Voting 1.2 Timing of elections 1.3 Electoral roll 1.4 Electorates 1.5 Vote-counting and announcement 2 History of voting in New Zealand 3 Results 3.1 General elections 3.2 By-elections 4 References 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] Overview of elections

[edit] Voting

New Zealand general elections occur when the Prime Minister requests a dissolution of Parliament and therefore a general election. Theoretically, this can happen at any time, although a convention exists whereby Prime Ministers do not call early elections unless they have no reasonable alternative.

Elections always take place on a Saturday, so as to minimise the effect of work or religious commitments that could inhibit people from voting. Voting (the casting of ballots) happens at various polling stations, generally established in schools, church halls, sports clubs, or other such public places. The 2005 election made use of 6,094 such polling stations.

The voting process uses printed voting ballots, with voters marking their choices (one vote for a candidate and one vote for a party — see Electoral system of New Zealand) with an ink pen provided for their use. The voter then places the voting paper in a sealed ballot box. Voters can alternatively cast "special votes" if genuinely unable to attend a regular polling place (for example, if they have travelled overseas, or have impaired mobility).

[edit] Timing of elections

New Zealand general elections generally occur every three years. Unlike some other countries, New Zealand has no fixed election-date, but rather the Prime Minister determines the timing of general elections. Convention dictates that a general election should take place roughly three years after the previous general election — unless a major crisis arises or the Prime Minister loses the ability to command a majority in parliament. The 1910s, 1930s and 1940s saw three elections delayed due to World War I, the Great Depression and World War II, respectively: the 1919, 1935 and 1943 elections would otherwise have taken place in 1917, 1934 and 1941 (Parliaments passed Acts extending their terms).

The term of Parliament and the timing of general elections is set out in the Constitution Act 1986 and the Electoral Act 1993. Under section 19 of the Constitution Act, Parliament must meet within six weeks of the return of the writs for a general election, while under section 17, the term of Parliament ends three years after the return of the writs, unless Parliament is dissolved earlier by the Governor-General. Section 125 of the Electoral Act requires that whenever Parliament expires or is dissolved, the Governor-General must issue a writ of election within seven days. Section 139 of the Electoral Act provides further constraints. The writ must be returned within 50 days of being issued, though the Governor-General may appoint an earlier return date in the writ itself. Furthermore, polling day must be between 20 and 27 days after the close of nominations. Thus, New Zealand law requires elections at least once every three years and two months, though elections are often held after three years, traditionally in November. The extra two months allow for some flexibility when returning to a fourth-quarter election after an early election, as happened in 2005 and 2008 after the 2002 snap election (see below).

Early or "snap" elections have occurred at least three times in New Zealand's history: in 1951, 1984 and 2002. Early elections often provoke controversy, as they potentially give governing parties an advantage over opposition candidates. Note that of the three elections in which the government won an increased majority, two involved snap elections (1951 and 2002) — the other incumbent-boosting election took place in 1938). The 1984 snap election backfired on the government of the day: many believe that the Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, called it while drunk.^[2][3] See Snap election#New Zealand. The 1996 election took place slightly early (on 12 October) to avoid holding a by-election after the resignation of Michael Laws.

The Prime Minister's power to determine the election date can give the government some subtle advantages. For example, if governing parties believe that a section of the population will either vote against them or not at all, they might hold the election in early spring, when the weather may well keep less-committed voters away from the polls. Party strategists take the timing of important rugby union matches into account, partly because a major match in the same weekend of the election will likely lower voting-levels, and partly because of a wide-spread belief that incumbent governments benefit from a surge of national pride when the All Blacks (the New Zealand national rugby team) win and suffer when they lose.

Tradition associates elections with November — give or take a few weeks. After disruptions to the 36-month cycle, Prime Ministers tend to strive to restore it to a November base. The most recent^[update] general election was held on Saturday 8 November 2008.^[4]

[edit] Electoral roll

The electoral roll consists of a register of all enrolled voters, organised (primarily alphabetically by surname) within electorates. All persons who meet the requirements for voting must by law register on the electoral roll, even if they do not intend to vote.

To be eligible to enrol, a person must be 18 years or older, a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident and have lived in New Zealand for one or more years without leaving the country (with some exceptions).^[5]

The roll records the name, address and stated occupation of all voters, although individual electors can apply for "unpublished" status on the roll in special circumstances, such as when having their details printed in the electoral roll could threaten their personal safety. According to Elections New Zealand, "having the printed electoral rolls available for the public to view is a part of the open democratic process of New Zealand"^[6].

[edit] Electorates

New Zealanders refer to voting districts as "electorates", or as "seats". Following the work of the 2007 Representation Commission review, New Zealand from 2008 on^[update] will have seventy geographical electorates. The Commission added one general electorate in Auckland called Botany. The seventy electorates will include seven Māori electorates specially set up for people of Māori ethnicity or ancestry who choose to place themselves on a separate electoral roll.

All electorates have roughly the same number of people in them — the Representation Commission periodically reviews and alters electorate boundaries to preserve this approximate balance. The number of people per electorate depends on the population of the South Island — this, currently^[update] the less populous of the country's two main islands, has sixteen guaranteed electorates, so the ideal number of people per electorate equals the population of the South Island divided by sixteen. From this, the Commission determines the number of North Island, Māori and list seats, which may fluctuate accordingly.

Supplementing the geographically-based electorate seats, the system currently^[update] allows for fifty-one at-large "list seats". A nation-wide "party-vote" fills these seats from lists submitted by political parties; they serve to make a party's total share of seats in parliament reflect its share of the party vote. For example, if a party wins 20% of the party vote, but only ten electorate seats, it will win fourteen list-seats, so that it has a total of 24 seats: 20% of the 120 seats in parliament. (For further explanation see Electoral system of New Zealand.)

[edit] Vote-counting and announcement

Polling places close at 7.00pm on election day. The process of the counting of the votes at polling places then begins. Results (at this stage provisional ones) go to a central office in the capital, Wellington, for announcement as they arrive. Starting from 2002, a dedicated official website, "www.electionresults.govt.nz" has provided "live" election-result updates. The provisional count will generally be completed before midnight. The ballots are then transported back to a central location for a mandatory recount. The electoral rolls are checked to make sure no one votes more than once. Special votes are also included at this stage. The final count is usually completed in two weeks, occasionally producing surprise upsets. In 1999 the provisional result indicated that neither the Greens or New Zealand First would qualify for Parliament, but both parties qualified on the strength of extra special votes, and the so-called "major parties" ended up with fewer list seats than expected. The final results of the election become official when confirmed by the Chief Electoral Officer.

[edit] History of voting in New Zealand

Main article: History of voting in New Zealand

The first national elections in New Zealand took place in 1853, the year after the British government passed the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852. Note that New Zealand claims to have become the first country in the world to have granted women's suffrage, although the accuracy of this claim depends on the definitions used (see Women's suffrage).

[edit] Results

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[edit] General elections

The following table lists all previous^[update] general elections held in New Zealand (note that elections for Māori seats initially took place at different times from elections for general seats). The table displays the dates of the elections, the officially recorded voter turnout, and the number of seats in Parliament at the time. On the right the table shows the number of seats won by the four most dominant parties in New Zealand's history (the Liberal Party and the Reform Party, which later merged to form the National Party, and the Labour Party), as well as the number won by other candidates (either independents or members of smaller political parties).

Term	Election	Date(s)	Official turnout	Total seats	Liberal	Reform	Labour	Others	Indep.
					United
					National
1st	1853 election	4 July–1 October	No record	37	-	-	-	-	37
2nd	1855 election	28 October–28 December	No record	37	-	-	-	-	37
3rd	1860-1861 election	12 December–28 March	No record	53	-	-	-	-	53
4th	1866 election	12 February–6 April	No record	70	-	-	-	-	70
5th	1871 election	14 January–23 February	No record	78	-	-	-	-	78
6th	1875-1876 election	30 December–28 March	No record	88	-	-	-	-	88
7th	1879 election	28 August–15 September	66.5%	88	-	-	-	-	88
8th	1881 election	9 December	66.5%	95	-	-	-	-	95
9th	1884 election	22 June	60.6%	95	-	-	-	-	95
10th	1887 election	26 September	67.1%	95	-	-	-	-	95
11th	1890 election	5 December	80.4%	74	-	-	-	-	74
12th	1893 election	28 November	75.3%	74	51	-	-	-	23
13th	1896 election	4 December	76.1%	74	39	-	-	-	35
14th	1899 election	6 December	77.6%	74	49	-	-	-	25
15th	1902 election	25 November	76.7%	80	47	-	-	-	33
16th	1905 election	6 December	83.3%	80	58	-	-	-	22
Two-round system period
17th	1908 election	17 November, 24 November, 1 December	79.8%	80	50	-	-	1	29
18th	1911 election	7 December, 14 December	83.5%	80	33	37	-	4	6
Return to FPP
19th	1914 election	10 December	84.7%	80	33	41	-	5	1
20th	1919 election	17 December	80.5%	80	21	47	8	-	4
21st	1922 election	7 December	88.7%	80	22	37	17	-	4
22nd	1925 election	4 November	90.9%	80	11	55	12	-	2
23rd	1928 election	14 November	88.1%	80	27	27	19	1	6
24th	1931 election	2 December	83.3%	80	19*	28*	24	1	8
25th	1935 election	27 November	90.8%	80	7*	9*	53	4	7
26th	1938 election	15 October	92.9%	80	25		53	-	2
27th	1943 election	25 September	82.8%	80	34		45	-	1
28th	1946 election	24 November	93.5%	80	38		42	-	-
29th	1949 election	30 November	93.5%	80	46		34	-	-
30th	1951 election	27 December	89.1%	80	50		30	-	-
31st	1954 election	13 November	91.4%	80	45		35	-	-
32nd	1957 election	30 November	92.9%	80	39		41	-	-
33rd	1960 election	26 November	89.8%	80	46		34	-	-
34th	1963 election	30 November	89.6%	80	45		35	-	-
35th	1966 election	26 November	86.0%	80	44		35	1	-
36th	1969 election	26 November	88.9%	84	45		39	-	-
37th	1972 election	25 November	89.1%	87	32		55	-	-
38th	1975 election	29 November	82.5%	87	55		32	-	-
39th	1978 election	25 November	69.2%**	92	51		40	1	-
40th	1981 election	28 November	91.4%	92	47		43	2	-
41st	1984 election	14 July	93.7%	95	37		56	2	-
42nd	1987 election	15 August	89.1%	97	40		57	-	-
43rd	1990 election	27 October	85.2%	97	67		29	1	-
44th	1993 election	6 November	85.2%	99	50		45	4	-
MMP era
45th	1996 election	12 October	88.3%	120	44		37	39	-
46th	1999 election	27 November	84.1%	120	39		49	32	-
47th	2002 election	27 July	77.0%	120	27		52	41	-
48th	2005 election	17 September	80.9%	121	48		50	23	-
49th	2008 election	8 November	78.69%[7]	122	59		43	20	-

* The United Party (a regrouping of the Liberals) and the Reform Party contested the 1931 and 1935 elections as a coalition, but did not formally merge as the National Party until 1936.
** Due to major problems with the enrolment process, commentators generally consider that the 1978 election had a significantly higher turnout than official figures indicate.^[8] See New Zealand general election, 1978.

[edit] By-elections

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Electoral calendar
• Electoral system
• Electoral reform in New Zealand
• Electoral system of New Zealand
• History of voting in New Zealand
• Mixed Member Proportional
• Referendums in New Zealand
• New Zealand by-elections

[edit] External links

• Electoral Commission website
• Official election results website
• New Zealand Election Study - analysis of elections by the University of Auckland
• Adam Carr's Election Archive

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