|
Electoral reform in New Zealand has, in recent years, become a political issue as major changes have been made to both Parliamentary and local government electoral systems. == Parliamentary electoral reform == All New Zealand elections from 1914 to 1996 consistently used the British system of first-past-the-post (FPP) for parliamentary elections (bloc voting and runoff voting were also used in some elections before 1914). This system had consistently favoured the two largest parties. From 1936 on, these were the National and Labour parties. The electoral reform debate began in earnest in New Zealand following two successive general elections in 1978 and 1981 in which the National Party won majority status with less than 40% of the vote, even though it won a lower share of the vote than the Labour Party. The Social Credit Party was also finding that the system worked against them, winning only one seat out of 92 in 1978 and two seats in 1981 as against 16.1% of the vote in 1978 and 20.7% of the vote in 1981. Governments had been previously formed despite the opposition winning the popular vote in both 1911 and 1931 as well. In its 1984 campaign platform, Labour committed itself to appoint a royal commission on electoral reform if elected. Labour won that election and in 1985 Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Geoffrey Palmer established the Royal Commission on the Electoral System. The Royal Commission's 1986 report, entitled ''Towards a Better Democracy'' recommended the adoption of the mixed-member proportional representation (MMP). Recognizing that a parliament dominated by the major parties might fail to implement a sweeping reform of this sort, the commission also proposed a referendum on the issue. Ambivalence by the major parties and party politics led the issue to languish for several years, but in the meantime, an influential lobby group which had been formed, the Electoral Reform Coalition, continued to press for implementation of the royal commission’s proposals. During the 1987 election campaign, Labour promised to hold a referendum on MMP at, or before, the next election. Although Labour was returned to power in that election, it failed to proceed further on the matter due to its own internal divisions. In May 1990, Labour MP John Terris submitted a private members bill to force a binding referendum on the electoral system, but the bill was defeated.〔(MMP Or SM? A Big Decision Looms For New Zealand Voters ) ''scoop.co.nz'', 30 June 2011〕 Sensing Labour’s vulnerability on the issue, the National opposition criticised the government inaction, and National Party Leader Jim Bolger promised to carry on with a referendum if elected in 1990 and do so before the next election in 1993. Although there was even less support for reform among National parliamentarians than in the Labour Party, the new National government elected in 1990 was, like its predecessor, stuck with a rashly made campaign promise. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Electoral reform in New Zealand」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|