The Government is going ahead with legislation which will force MPs who quit their party, or are expelled from it, to resign their seat in Parliament.
The bill has been in Parliament for more than a year but the Labour-Alliance Coalition had problems with it because the Greens, who usually support
Government legislation, opposed it.
Prime Minister Helen Clark confirmed yesterday that agreement had been reached with New Zealand First, which means the Government has the numbers to pass the legislation in Parliament.
NZ First, which suffered greatly from party-hoppers when its coalition with National collapsed in 1998, has always supported the intent of the legislation but wanted some minor changes.
The legislation was a Labour Party election pledge and Helen Clark said "people have had a gutsful of waka-jumpers".
Under the deal, MPs who leave the party on whose ticket they were elected will have to resign, which would mean a byelection if they are electorate MPs. If they are list MPs, they will be replaced.
Party leaders will not have the sole power to sack an MP who does not agree with policy. A two-thirds majority of a caucus will be needed to force an MP out of a party.
The Electoral Integrity Amendment Bill has a sunset clause in it, and will expire in 2005.
The legislation was written by Labour because of the mass defections from previous coalition partners after the first MMP election. Half the NZ First caucus quit to become either independent MPs or form their own parties.
Tau Henare, for example, formed Mauri Pacific, which had no mandate from voters because it did not exist at the 1996 election.
There have been no defectors from any party since the last election, and there are no indications that there will be.
Greens co-leader Rod Donald said NZ First leader Winston Peters was a hypocrite for supporting the bill because he had welcomed defectors from other parties who joined NZ First before the 1996 election.
"The Government should think again before depending on Winston Peters to push through this piece of anti-democratic legislation."
- NZPA
