Referendum 2011 opinion: Preferential voting ... and why you should vote for it

Opinion

In 1996 New Zealanders backed change from the old individual and local-MP based First Part the Post (FPP) system to party/brand-based MMP.

Under MMP only the party vote matters in terms of which party wins. I advocate for a system that brings the "My MP" accountability back into politics without the wasted vote problems of FPP. Preferential Voting (PV) achieves that.

What was wrong with FPP?

The main problem with FPP was wasted votes. It could not factor in the wishes of the significant number of New Zealanders supporting parties other than National and Labour. For example in 1981 the Social Credit party won 21 per cent of votes nationwide but only two seats out of the 92 seat parliament. In 1984, Bob Jones' New Zealand Party won 12 per cent but not a single seat.

The unfairness of FPP is two-fold. Governments could be formed by a party not achieving even close to majority support nationwide. In electorates the underdog could often come through the middle to win a race, against the wishes of the vast majority of voters.

With FPP, minor parties often only succeeded in "splitting votes". Two or more candidates that represent relatively similar viewpoints reduce the votes received by each of them, reducing the chances of any one of them winning against another candidate, who represents a significantly different viewpoint. Ironically, minor parties in FPP races can lead to a candidate who represents the viewpoints of a minority of voters winning.

But MMP's problems are even worse because losing an electorate no longer means losing a seat in Parliament.

MMP is the opposite of FPP. Instead of our MPs being accountable to individual electorates, they are accountable to parties. Instead of the MPs in the swing-seats - electorates most reflective of the "average voter" - standing up for the wishes of their community, MPs vie for high list positions.

The MPs we want standing up to the powers in political parties are those most reliant on the party bosses to be "protected" by an MMP list position. MMP discourages the vulnerable MPs from standing up for their electorate.

Other problems with MMP include:

* The small parties with the balance of power get to decide which major party forms government.

* Difficulty in holding a party to account for broken promises as it can claim it was unable to get its coalition partners to agree to them.

* Minor parties can be motivated to be extreme and divisive as they can get representation with just 5 per cent of the vote, even if the policies are rejected by the supporters of all other parties.

Why is a Preferential Vote better?

PV allows those voting for third parties to count in determining the eventual winner. Their votes are not wasted. Because the eventual winner must have more than 50 per cent support, no unpopular candidate can "come through the middle" to win.

Potential voters for small parties will not shy away from giving their "first preference" to those they support, safe in the knowledge that they're not throwing their vote away and increasing the chances of their least preferred candidate from winning.

PV achieves what a voting system is for. Some believe that democracy is about representation. But if it were we would be represented by our best and brightest. The reason democracy works is accountability - we can kick people we do not like out.

MMP has passed that accountability on to the party hacks that draw up the lists, rather than voters in electorates.

PV, like FPP, allows that direct accountability. But like MMP, it ensures votes are not wasted and the supporters of small parties still have real influence. Candidates and the major parties in close electorate races will chase second preferences without the post election shenanigans of MMP.

Change means a second referendum.

A tick for Change and PV gives us a second referendum in 2014. It doesn't kick MMP into touch or stop the politicians from improving MMP. A tick for PV gives us the option of adopting a system where all votes count - but without giving disproportionate power to small parties or allowing rejected MPs to sneak back into Parliament as list MPs.

* Since this opinion piece was submitted, Vote for Change has endorsed Supplementary Member as its preferred balance between FPP and MMP.

Anna Hamilton-Manns is a founding member of Vote for Change and supports a change to either Supplementary Member or Preferential Vote. www.voteforchange.org.nz.