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New Zealand electorates
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In New Zealand, an electorate is a voting district for Parliamentary elections. In more informal discussion, electorates are often called seats. The most formal description, Electoral District, is rarely seen outside electoral legislation. Before 1996, all Members of Parliament were directly chosen for office by the voters of an electorate. In 2008 under the MMP electoral system, 70 of the usually 120 seats in Parliament will be filled by electorate members, with the remainder being filled from party lists in order to achieve proportional representation (there were 69 electorate seats in 2005).
inally, electorates were drawn up based on political and social links, with little consideration for differences in population.
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Encyclopedia
In New Zealand, an electorate is a voting district for Parliamentary elections. In more informal discussion, electorates are often called seats. The most formal description, Electoral District, is rarely seen outside electoral legislation. Before 1996, all Members of Parliament were directly chosen for office by the voters of an electorate. In 2008 under the MMP electoral system, 70 of the usually 120 seats in Parliament will be filled by electorate members, with the remainder being filled from party lists in order to achieve proportional representation (there were 69 electorate seats in 2005).
Distribution
Originally, electorates were drawn up based on political and social links, with little consideration for differences in population. Each electorate was allocated a different number of MPs (up to three) in order to balance population differences, but this was only partly successful. Eventually, a new system was introduced — each electorate would elect one MP, and boundaries would be drawn based on population. However, a special country quota meant that rural seats were allowed to contain fewer people than urban seats, preserving an inequality (and over-representing farmers). The quota persisted until 1945.
Today, electorate boundaries are determined by the Representation Commission. The Commission consists of:
- Four government officials — the Government Statistician, the Surveyor-General, the Chief Electoral Officer, and the Chairperson of the Local Government Commission.
- A representative of the governing party or coalition, and a representative of the opposition block.
- A chairperson (often a judge) nominated by the other members, with the exception of Chairperson of the Local Government Commission.
Boundaries are reviewed after each New Zealand Census, which occurs every five years. The South Island is guaranteed to have 16 general seats, with the remainder of voters (North Island and Maori) being divided into electorates of the same population as the South Island ones. Electorates may vary by 5% of the average population size. This has led to the number of list seats in Parliament to decline as the population is experiencing 'northern drift' (i.e. the population of the North Island, especially around Auckland, is growing faster than that of the South Island).
In a continuation of 'northern drift', the North Island got an extra electoral seat for the 2008 general election. The need for an extra seat was determined from the results of the 2006 Census. The extra seat brought the total number of electoral seats to 70, and reduced the number of list seats to 50. Although the addition of another Maori seat was considered likely, their number will remain unchanged at seven.
The Parliament elected in 2005 had an extra member, ie 121 rather than 120 members, an overhang caused by the Maori Party getting more electorate seats than they were entitled to for their proportion of the Party vote under MMP.
Special electorates
For the qualifications required to vote, which were gradually extended, see History of voting in New Zealand.
Over the years, there have been two types of "special" electorates created for a particular community. The first were special goldminers' electorates, created for the benefit of participants in the Otago Goldrush — goldminers did not usually meet the residency and property requirements in the electorate they were currently prospecting in, but were numerous enough to want political representation. These electorates, of which only two were created, did not last long (from 1863 to 1870).
Much more durable have been the Maori electorates, created in 1868 to give separate representation to Maori citizens. Although originally intended to be temporary, they came to function as reserved positions for Maori, ensuring that there would always be a Maori voice in Parliament. Until 1996 the number of Maori electorates was fixed at four, significantly under-representing Maori in Parliament. However the introduction of MMP allowed for the seat number to change with the numbers in the Maori population who choose to go on the Maori rather than the general roll.
Current electorates
General electorates
Abolished electorates
General Electorates
Maori electorates
- Eastern Maori
- Hauraki
- Northern Maori
- Southern Maori
- Te Puku O Te Whenua
- Te Tai Rawhiti
- Western Maori
Goldminers' electorates
- Goldfields
- Goldfields Towns
External links
- , produced by the Parliamentary Library, New Zealand Parliament
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