Electoral law review to follow transparency, Maori Roll changes
The government is launching a sweeping review of the country's electoral laws including voting age, the three-year term, party funding and the "coat-tailing" rule.
However, the review would not consider changes to Maori seats, local elections, changing from the MMP system, or fundamental constitutional changes like becoming a republic or having an upper house.
Minister of Justice Kris Faafoi announced some targeted rule changes - such as transparency of political donations, and changes to the Maori roll - would be brought in ahead of the 2023 election, while the review would look into broader changes ahead of the 2026 election.
The review would be led by an independent panel and the government would work with parties across Parliament for broad, non-partisan changes, Faafoi said.
"Much has changed since the 1950s but most of our electoral rules haven't. We want to make election rules clearer and fairer to build more trust in the system and better support people to exercise their right to vote," he said.
The review would look at:
- Voting age
- Overseas voting
- Funding of political parties
- Length of Parliamentary term
- Electoral Commission recommendations on MMP
Recommendations from the Electoral Commission include changes to the party vote threshold, the one-seat electorate rule, the ratio of electorate and list seats, and the overhang rule.
Political party donations have proven contentious in recent years, with people associated with Labour, National, NZ First and the Maori Party having been investigated by the Serious Fraud Office.
Meanwhile, there have been calls for changes to the Maori Roll for years, with those wanting to switch between it and the General Roll only able to do so every five or six years - in line with the census - despite elections taking place every three years.
Those on the Maori electoral roll vote for Maori electorate seats, rather than general electorate seats.
Ahead of the 2017 election the Electoral Commission recommended allowing a change every three years, to line up with elections, but it was opposed by National Party members.
Other changes proposed by the commission deal with changes to the way seats in Parliament are allocated, and the rules around them.
As it stands there are usually 120 seats in Parliament, with 72 decided by electorate votes, and the remaining 48 being "list" seats, filled proportionally according to the party votes each party wins at the election. There are also sometimes "overhang" seats which can be added to ensure the proportion of seats remains correct.
A party also has to get 5 percent of votes or an electorate seat to be in Parliament - but if they win an electorate seat they get allocated seats based on their percentage of part votes regardless of the 5 percent threshold.
Electoral Commission reviews have previously called for the 5 percent threshold to be lowered, removing overhang seats, abolishing the electorate seat threshold for allocating seats - known as the coat-tailing rule - and changing the ratio to 60:40 of electorate to list seats.
The government is launching a sweeping review of the country's electoral laws including voting age, the three-year term, party funding and the "coat-tailing" rule.
However, the review would not consider changes to Maori seats, local elections, changing from the MMP system, or fundamental...
The government is launching a sweeping review of the country's electoral laws including voting age, the three-year term, party funding and the "coat-tailing" rule.
However, the review would not consider changes to Maori seats, local elections, changing from the MMP system, or fundamental constitutional changes like becoming a republic or having an upper house.
Minister of Justice Kris Faafoi announced some targeted rule changes - such as transparency of political donations, and changes to the Maori roll - would be brought in ahead of the 2023 election, while the review would look into broader changes ahead of the 2026 election.
The review would be led by an independent panel and the government would work with parties across Parliament for broad, non-partisan changes, Faafoi said.
"Much has changed since the 1950s but most of our electoral rules haven't. We want to make election rules clearer and fairer to build more trust in the system and better support people to exercise their right to vote," he said.
The review would look at:
- Voting age
- Overseas voting
- Funding of political parties
- Length of Parliamentary term
- Electoral Commission recommendations on MMP
Recommendations from the Electoral Commission include changes to the party vote threshold, the one-seat electorate rule, the ratio of electorate and list seats, and the overhang rule.
Political party donations have proven contentious in recent years, with people associated with Labour, National, NZ First and the Maori Party having been investigated by the Serious Fraud Office.
Meanwhile, there have been calls for changes to the Maori Roll for years, with those wanting to switch between it and the General Roll only able to do so every five or six years - in line with the census - despite elections taking place every three years.
Those on the Maori electoral roll vote for Maori electorate seats, rather than general electorate seats.
Ahead of the 2017 election the Electoral Commission recommended allowing a change every three years, to line up with elections, but it was opposed by National Party members.
Other changes proposed by the commission deal with changes to the way seats in Parliament are allocated, and the rules around them.
As it stands there are usually 120 seats in Parliament, with 72 decided by electorate votes, and the remaining 48 being "list" seats, filled proportionally according to the party votes each party wins at the election. There are also sometimes "overhang" seats which can be added to ensure the proportion of seats remains correct.
A party also has to get 5 percent of votes or an electorate seat to be in Parliament - but if they win an electorate seat they get allocated seats based on their percentage of part votes regardless of the 5 percent threshold.
Electoral Commission reviews have previously called for the 5 percent threshold to be lowered, removing overhang seats, abolishing the electorate seat threshold for allocating seats - known as the coat-tailing rule - and changing the ratio to 60:40 of electorate to list seats.
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