MMP stands for Mixed Member Proportional. It means the number of seats a party gets in Parliament matches the share of party votes it received across the whole country. Voters get two votes: one for a party and one for a local MP. Parliament normally has 120 seats, filled by electorate MPs and list MPs together.
MMP stands for Mixed Member Proportional. It means the number of seats a party gets in Parliament matches the share of party votes it received across the whole country. Voters get two votes: one for a party and one for a local MP. Parliament normally has 120 seats, filled by electorate MPs and list MPs together.
Mixed = two kinds of MP, electorate and list.
Proportional = seats match the national party-vote share.
A party needs 5% of the party vote, or one electorate seat, to get in.
New Zealand voted for MMP in a referendum in 1993 and kept it in 2011.
Half of Parliament, roughly, is made up of electorate MPs. Each one won the most votes in a particular place, from Northland to Invercargill.
The rest are list MPs. They come off a ranked list each party publishes before the election, and they are used to top a party up so its total seat count matches its party-vote share.
Before 1996, New Zealand used First Past the Post, where a party could win far more seats than its share of votes. Twice, in 1978 and 1981, a party won more votes nationally but fewer seats than its rival.
MMP was designed to stop that. Under MMP, a party with 12% of the party vote should end up with roughly 12% of the seats, even if it wins no electorates at all.
Because seats are shared out proportionally, one party rarely wins an outright majority. Governments are usually built from two or three parties who agree to work together.
That means the days after an election can matter as much as election night itself.
Is MMP used anywhere else?
Yes. Germany uses a similar system, and New Zealand's version was partly modelled on it.
Can New Zealand change its voting system?
Yes, through a referendum. There was one in 2011 and voters chose to keep MMP.