FPP or STV? It'll be left up to the voters

The Hamilton City Council will let voters at the 2013 election make the decision whether they prefer FPP or STV. Photo / Supplied

Hamilton City Council has deferred making changes to its voting system until after the community have had their say at the next election.

Councillors yesterday rejected paying $156,000 for a public poll, saying it was too rushed.

They will instead let voters at the next election in 2013 make the decision whether they prefer first-past-the-post or want to move to a single transferable voting system.

The outcome of that vote will then be used in the 2016 election.

However, the public still has the opportunity to call for a poll if it can present the council with a petition of 5 per cent of electors by next February.

Under the first-past-the-post system, voters select the correct number of candidates required to fill the position, while under STV, candidates are numbered in preference and people can vote for a few or as many candidates as they like.

The council opted to delay the decision, saying that having only three weeks to decide whether to poll electors or move to a new system would result in a "knee-jerk reaction rather than good decision making".

Councillors had been required to make a decision by September 12.

But public feedback at the meeting showed support for the new system.

Runanga spokesman Matiu Dickson told councillors during the open forum at the council meeting that STV was the fairest system for representing views of Maori and other minority communities.

Changing to STV would also align the system with the Waikato District Health Board's voting method, he said.

"I congratulate people who got on council using FPP - I think that's good - but for elections leading up to this one there was no person on this council who was Maori."

Waikato Electoral Reform Coalition spokeswoman Dana Glendining said she supported STV because it was a more inclusive system.

She said that even though Margaret Forsyth had been voted on to the council in the last election, it was probably more for being a former Silver Fern netballer than representing Maori.

Most of the country's 77 local authorities still use FPP but six councils have adopted the new system. Palmerston North City Council is still considering adopting it while the Wellington Regional Council is making the change to STV in 2013.

The electoral voting system is reviewed every six years and in 2006 a poll of electors showed 60 per cent preferred the FPP system.

Independent Election Services principal Judith Ofsoske, who provided advice to the council about the systems, said STV had not led to an increase in the number of people voting in elections but it was a well-known deterrent to party voting.