A Guide to Voting, MMP, and the Referendum

Politics is a word that sends shivers down peoples’ spines, some excitement and others dread. Like religion, politics is sometimes framed as the thing never to bring up over the dinner table. 

We understand that with this upcoming election, many would rather put politics into the too hard basket. For this reason, we enlisted Jonathan Edmeades to help unpack this topic a bit more.

On September 19th, we will vote for a bunch of names and parties. Different colours, different ethics, different stories. After the last few weeks, the process of getting to this day might feel like a bit of a bad political drama, but let me assure you, there are significant things at stake. This article is a guide for people who want to know a bit more about how politics and our votes happen in Aotearoa, are just plain confused by the whole thing, or need a quick brush up from studying social studies in high school.

So, who are we voting for, how do those votes work, and what do these extra referendums mean this coming election?

How Does Our Governing System Works in Aotearoa?

First, we need to understand what these people are elected to. Parliament, often shown to us in our living rooms in clips of that verbal playground that is the debating chamber. This place is responsible for developing and passing the laws that govern and affect our lives. Whether it is about issues that have a deeply personal impact, such as the regulations around tangi during lockdown, or are much broader in scope, like taxation, those individuals we elect to parliament have a profound responsibility and influence over many things that affect our day to day lives. 

There are three branches of New Zealand’s governing system—the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. We have three branches of government so that we can prevent abuses of power. Each of the three areas can challenge the others and to ensure that their actions are appropriate.

The action you see in the debating chamber shows a snapshot of the work of the branch known as the legislature. The legislature is made up of every single person in parliament: the parties in power and out of it. Their job is to collectively make laws and to hold the executive to account. 

A group of members of parliament (MPs) are selected by the Prime Minister to form cabinet. Cabinet forms the branch of government known as the executive and sets the majority of the agenda for the legislature. They make proposals that get brought before the legislature who then decides whether they should be formed into law.

The third branch is the judiciary, which functions to interpret and apply the law. The judiciary is made up of all of the judges in the country, from the local courtroom to the High Court. They have two main jobs: to decide how to action the laws the legislature passes, and also to provide a check to the power that the executive and legislature have. (A really good example is a case going through the High Court at the moment where the judges need to determine whether or not the actions of government in creating the lockdown were appropriate.)

MMP? What’s That All About?

Having got that out of the way, it is worth looking into the mechanics of the voting system in New Zealand. In Aotearoa, we use a kinda unusual system called MMP, which stands for Mixed-Member-Proportional. 

Within MMP, you will get two votes when you turn up at the booth on September 19th. One is your electorate vote, and the other you party vote.

Electorate Vote?

Short answer: Your electorate vote is for the person who you think would best represent your region's interests.

Long answer: Firstly, your electorate vote. This one is pretty simple. You get a list of people put forward by the different parties to represent the local area in which you live, select the one you most prefer, and the person with the most votes gets in. Easy.

Party Vote?

Short answer: Your party vote goes towards the group of people who you most want to have a say in the governance of our country.

(Really) long answer: The party vote is where things get a little more complex. You see, parliament has 120 seats, but there are only 71 electorates (64 general electorates and 7 Mãori electorates). The remainder of parliament is made up of what are known as list MPs. These are allocated according to the proportion of the party vote which a party receives. If they have won enough electorates to match this proportion, then they don’t get any list MPs. However, if a party wins 50% of the vote and yet has not won 60 electorates, then they get topped up to that amount. Basically, this means that your party vote is about the group of people you most want to have a say in the governance of the whole country.

I guess the key question after understanding this is ‘how does my team win?’. That’s pretty simple. To be in charge, you need to be able to call on the majority of MPs to support you in Parliament. However, since the first MMP election in 1996, no party has won enough seats to be able to govern on their own. This has necessitated the formation of governing relationships between a major party and some of the various minor parties who have emerged under this system. Parties may form relationships with differing levels of commitment, from a coalition agreement through to what is known as a confidence and supply agreement. These relationships involve the minor party offering a particular level of support to the governing party in relation for a certain policy concessions or positions within the executive.

There are a couple of quirks to this system. One of these is the threshold for a party to get into parliament. A party must either win 5% of the party vote or one electorate seat in order to have a job after September 19. This means that, for some parties, certain electorates are critical to their success whilst for others, pumping their party vote campaign is where the majority of their efforts occur. (For example, ACT has only had one seat in parliament for the last couple of elections because, even though they only got 0.5% of the vote, David Seymour was able to win his electorate seat in Epsom.) 

Then there are the seven Mãori electorates. These exist to ensure that tangata whenua have some substantive representation within the government of the country. Whilst the debate around separate seats deserves an article of its own, I want to highlight several crucial details. If you whakapapa Mãori, you have an option to enrol to vote in the Māori electorates. This only affects your electorate vote, but means that you vote for a different set of candidates who cover (usually) a geographically bigger electorate than the general electorates. You can change between rolls every five years. The next chance to switch is in 2024.

It’s also probably worth returning to the subject of list MPs. Because these MPs do not strictly represent a geographical area, they sometimes have more flexibility in defining the roles they play. For some in the higher echelons of power, not having an electorate enables them to devote more time to ministerial responsibilities. Others may choose to act as a local representative in an area where their party doesn’t hold the electorate, or to spend time representing a specific ethnic or interest community that has supported their own electoral efforts. 

What About These Referendums?

The other quirk about this election is that you will have two referendums to vote on. The End of Life Choice Referendum and the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Referendum.

The two referendums are distinct in one important way. The End of Life Choice is a binding referendum. This means that parliament must act in accordance with the result of the referendum vote. In this case, this is occurring because the bill has already made its way through the parliamentary process and thus the vote in September is merely about saying whether or not this specific legislation can be put into action. In simple terms, a yes vote on September 19th will mean that in one years time this Act will become law.

The Cannabis Legalisation and Control Referendum is a non-binding referendum. This means that the government can still follow its own process for forming law in the case of the bill that is proposed. This means that if the vote returns a positive result, the proposed bill will enter the legislative process and be debated in parliament, as well as being opened up for public consultation through the select committee process. In this referendum, the legislation being voted on is not necessarily the final product. This vote merely acts to indicate to the government whether there is sufficient public support for such a bill to be considered.

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On (or before) September 19th you have four decisions to make: an electorate vote for your specific region, a party vote, and two referendums. Last week we touched briefly on why it’s important to use your voice and make your vote count, and a couple of months ago we shared this great piece from Caleb Haurua about the role of Christians in politics. Voting is a central part of being a citizen in a democracy and it’s a privilege that many in our history didn't have. When you turn up at your election booth, you are participating in a right that many of our ancestors fought and campaigned for. Let’s make sure that we use this as an opportunity to create the best vision of Aotearoa’s future.

Don’t forget that right now is a great time to register to vote! Head to vote.nz to enrol online.

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Jonathan Edmeades is a student at Carey Baptist College.