About MMP

As I’ve previously said, I’m voting to keep MMP (Mixed Member Proportional) as the electoral system for New Zealand. The official video above explains how the system works. I’ve also posted CGPGrey’s video on MMP below, which I think is really good. I’ll be doing this same thing with other systems in other posts this week. Between these two videos, most people should get how MMP works.

The most important point is that MMP is proportional, something that none of the other systems can claim. That makes it the most representative system and, in my view, by far the fairest and most democratic.

The electorate seats are elected in a first past the post (FPP) system, and I think that should change to Preferential Voting (more about that in another post). It’s not relevant for this referendum. The size of Parliament is also irrelevant because that’s not at issue in this referendum, contrary to the distortions of the rightwing Vote for Change group.

If MMP is retained, it will trigger a review to look at possible changes. If it loses, however, it may face another referendum against the most popular alternative—however, contrary to popular belief, this second referendum is NOT automatic, and Parliament must still approve it.

In future posts over the next couple days, I’ll talk about the alternatives to MMP and why they’re all inferior. In the meantime, I say as I have all along:

Let’s keep MMP and make it even better.



For official information on the referendum, go to www.referendum.org.nz
For information from the campaign to Keep MMP, go to www.keepmmp.org.nz