So, for all those people out there who don't live in New Zealand(you know who you are), we just had our General Election. We use a voting system called MMP(Mixed Member Proportional). This system allows voters to vote for a party and a local Member of Parliament to represent them.
That's 2 votes. The party to rule the country, then the local representative to sit in parliament on their behalf.
A couple of other rules are:
- A party must get either at least 5% of the Party vote to sit in parliament.
or - A party must have 1 member elected to a local seat.
also
-If a party doesn't get over 50% of the country's votes, they can build a coalition with other parties to bring that coalition over the 50% mark.
This has created an interesting situation, as the leading party, our right wing "National" party, has secured 58 seats worth of the vote. While 2 left wing parties, the Green party and the Labour party, have secured a total of 52 seats of the vote.
The final decision on who forms a coalition comes down to 1 scrappy little party, New Zealand First. A breakaway party with no left or right wing charter, with a mixture of what may be seen as extreme leftist or rightist views on certain topics.
Is a system fair if it allows so much control to be given to such a small minority? MMP would say so.
America uses a version of First Past the Post, the system we used to use. However, this has, through the use of the electoral college system, been deemed unfair by many as well.
What is your view. If the Libertarians in the US got to choose whether to side with Trump or Hillary, would that be fair? Let me know what you think by ReSteeming or quoting.
(Image courtesy of http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/)