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In the 2020 General Election, the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand appeared ideally positioned to capitalise on its association with the Labour-NZ First coalition, led by Jacinda Ardern. Leading up to the election campaign, the Green Party presented itself as a progressive partner for the dominant Labour Party against weak opposition from the National Party. During the campaign, polls suggested that there was a risk the party would not pass the threshold for representation in Parliament, leading to the vigorous targeting of the Auckland City electorate seat. The strategy was successful, as the Green Party slightly increased its representation and won the electorate seat. Securing an agreement with the Labour Party could ensure continued policy influence but does raise concerns about the potential for fragmentation, in view of the party's non-conformist roots and the urgency of the environmental challenges ahead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For nearly one hundred years, New Zealand had an appointed upper house in its Parliament, called the Legislative Council. It was abolished by statute in 1950. The search for a substitute took some years, but ended with no proposal succeeding. This article reviews the history of the Legislative Council and revisits the reports done in attempts to revive a second chamber and the constitutional agitation that accompanied those efforts. It analyses the weaknesses of the Legislative Council and why reform proposals failed. It examines more recent efforts to reintroduce a second chamber, including the Bill for an elected Senate that was introduced into Parliament, alongside the measures to implement the Mixed Member Proportional election system in 1993. The Senate provisions were excised by the Select Committee considering the Bill. Efforts still continue to revive the idea of a second chamber, but the article concludes they are doomed to failure in New Zealand's particular political culture. It suggests that the salient function of a second chamber as a revising chamber for legislation should be achieved by improving the scrutiny of legislation in the House of Representatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accountability of representatives to electors is a key indicator of democratic health. In mixed-member systems, the coexistence of two kinds of representation provides the opportunity to test competing claims with minimal confounding factors. There is debate about the relative accountability of constituency and list MPs, and in particular, concerning dual candidacy, where individuals can stand for both constituency and list seats. Analysing New Zealand elections since 1999, with comparisons back to the previous single-member plurality system, this article examines the effects of dual candidacy, legislative turnover and the cases where constituency or electorate MPs have lost their seats, but remained in Parliament as list members. 代表对选民负责乃民主是否健康的一个关键指标。在混合成员制下，两类代表的共存为比较单纯地检验其竞争的主张提供了机会。不过，选区及名单议员的相对责任，尤其在一个个体可以既代表选区又代表名单席位的情况下的责任，对此是有争议的。本文分析了新西兰1999年以来的选举，并与之前的单一成员多数选举制做了对比，还考察了双重候选人制的效果、议员的流动、以及选区或议员落选但依然是国会名单成员的情况。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines turnout and voting choices at general elections among Pacific peoples in New Zealand between 1996 and 2011 and investigates this further through a secondary analysis of data from the New Zealand Election Study. It finds that turnout is lower among Pacific peoples compared to other electors, but that this is mainly accounted for by political-psychological and socio-demographic factors. It finds strong support for the Labour Party among Pacific peoples, who were twice as likely as other electors to vote Labour. Reasons for the strong attachment to Labour are explored, and the implications of lower turnout among Pacific peoples are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

How and how well do different parties manage similar environmental changes? How do organizations shape parties’ adaptation to change? In 1996 New Zealand replaced its Single Member Plurality (SMP) electoral system with a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system. MMP added an overriding proportional tier to national elections and compelled the major incumbent parties, Labour and National, to undertake new tasks: the creation of national lists of candidates and the construction of nationwide campaigns for the ‘party vote’. This paper compares how Labour and National organized candidate selection in response to MMP. It demonstrates how and why Labour possessed organizational capacities to meet these challenges that National lacked before the advent of MMP and for several years after it. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Historically, few Māori have been elected to local government. In the last 10 years the Crown has created two opportunities for local government to increase the number of Māori elected: the Local Electoral Act 2001 allows a local government to change its electoral system from the first-past-the-post (FPP) to the single transferable voting (STV) system; and the Local Electoral Amendment Act 2002 allows a local government to create local Māori wards and Māori constituencies (replicating the model of Māori representation in the House of Representatives). Very few local governments have implemented either option. A small (and declining) number of councils have changed to STV. A few councils have polled their electors on the matter of establishing Māori wards, but each poll rejected them. In 2010 the Crown renewed its commitment to the ‘option’ of local electoral reform in establishing the new Auckland City Council. The Crown rejected a Royal Commission recommendation to guarantee Māori representation in the reconstituted council, preferring to allow the council and Auckland voters to engage in electoral reform if they wish to do so. Following the 2010 local government elections, Māori are still chronically under-represented amongst elected councillors. This article argues that the Crown is failing in its duty of active protection of Māori in laws relating to Māori representation in local government. Drawing on Kymlicka’s arguments about group representation, the article argues that the Crown has dual obligations to Māori in relation to local representation. It must recognize Māori as a community of interest in local electoral boundaries and it also must increase the number of Māori elected to local government. Both obligations can be met through the mandatory creation of Māori wards in all local government. This article also defends guaranteed local Māori representation against some common objections. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the developments and legislation in New Zealand Commonwealth Parliament. The Labour Party has registered a loss from 43 seats to 34 at the general election the 50th Parliament on November 26, 2011. On October 5, 2011, Minister of Police Judith Collins has moved the adoption of the amendments to the Standing Orders in the Report of the Standing Orders Committee. The final adjournment debate of the 49th Parliament was held on October 6, 2011.

The article presents a research paper on the prospects of the comprehensive review on New Zealand's local government initiated by Rodney Hide, Minister of Local Government, entitled "Smarter Government, Stronger Communities: Towards Better Local Governance and Public Services" (SGSC Review). It also explores the review's effects to the country's local government, as well as on its wider political context following the November 26, 2011 general election. It adds that the review will end in 2014.

The regulation of political finance, including the funding of political parties and election campaigns, remains contentious in many democracies. A particular focus of debate has been the regulation of 'parallel campaigners'- that is, non-candidate and non-party political actors - wanting to influence the election outcome by bringing to bear their economic resources. Drawing on both recent unsuccessful and current attempts at reforming the regulation of election spending by parallel campaigners in New Zealand, this paper explores the conflict between the democratic right to freedom of expression and the idea that all citizens should have a fair opportunity for effective political influence. It is argued that Joshua Cohen's principle of political equality, which entails the balancing of these two values, provides a justifiable framework for regulating political finance, including parallel campaign expenditures, in liberal democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an overview of political developments in New Zealand for 2008. It includes an analysis of the political motives of leading public figures, and commentary on trends in public opinion regarding the events described. Various electoral results and notable issues in national politics are discussed. These include a general election which led to the defeat of the incumbent Labour Party, and the challenges faced by the government, under Prime Minister John Key, in handling the global financial crisis which began in 2008.

This article seeks to critically examine and document the Mt Albert by-election within the context of New Zealand by-elections and MMP, and further aims to update the literature on the subject of New Zealand parliamentary by-elections. This account of the Mt Albert by-election places emphasis on the Labour Party perspective towards the by-election. The article argues that the propositions regarding New Zealand by-elections under the FPP electoral system, and the actors who contest them, still hold true for MMP by-elections. However, the introduction of MMP has changed - for better or for worse - the dynamic of these events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political marketing is a growing phenomenon and few political parties would seek to compete in an election without utilising at least some of its tools to help them understand their market and compete more effectively. The current range of tools available includes pre-election strategy, branding, e-marketing, opposition research, multiple forms of direct marketing and GOTV utilising market segmentation, tangibility tools, insights marketing and leadership re-marketing. New developments in practice transfer quickly between countries. In the 2008 New Zealand election, both major parties, Labour and National, utilised different aspects of political marketing with varied effects, showing the importance and limitations of global strategies, as well as the need for parties to utilise all aspects of political marketing for government and re-election. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Campbell and Miller's article from 1957 is the precursor of a series of studies in political science focusing on rescinded votes. The extensive implantation of electoral systems with mixed members beginning in the 1990s presents an opportunity to test the validity of theories frequently used to account for this phenomenon in a new institutional context. This study analyzes the 1999 and 2002 Parliamentary elections in New Zealand and offers empirical evidence of the importance of prospective and retrospective control mechanisms used by politicians to explain rescinded votes. To summarize, this study concludes that the rescinded vote in countries with this type of institutional framework is the response of an electorate with negative judgments of the qualities or performance in office of a candidate, and thus of their political party at the national or local level. [TRANSLATION]

The article presents a discussion on the management of general elections in New Zealand. It is noted that elections in the country should be on a regular fixed date. Pollsters and political scientists spend time and effort trying to distil out what voter-customers want to buy with their taxes. It is noted that during political campaigns, political parties are set out to manage public opinion. Campaign managers draw on marketing techniques such as newspaper print advertising and focus groups.

The role of money in elections is attracting considerable contemporary attention, because of the potential for corruption of electoral and political systems. In part, this concern is based on a belief that money matters in those elections, that how much parties and candidates spend on their campaigns can influence how many votes they win. Tests of this belief suggest that this is indeed so, especially in the case of challengers' spending. The New Zealand electoral system offers an excellent arena in which to test these ideas further, because its adoption of MMP allows examination not only of the impact of spending on changing patterns of party support over time but also of patterns of switching between parties in the two components of each election. Analyses of the 2005 general election there provide substantial support for the argument that money matters, especially for the country's smaller political parties. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Under proportional representation, New Zealand has frequently been governed by minority governments backed by a support party on matters of confidence and supply. This article seeks to analyze the 'policy influence differential' - the influence a party in government may exert, as opposed to the influence exerted by a support party in the context of New Zealand coalition politics. While individual personalities clearly influence the performance of minority coalition governments, parliamentary institutions and informal political norms shape New Zealand's policy influence differential. This article examines this topic in the context of the 1999-2002 Labour-Alliance government and analyses enactment of one particularly important piece of legislation. The policy influence differential remains substantial in New Zealand due to the persistence of first-past-the-post institutions and political culture. As a result, small parties pay a significant cost in policy influence when remaining outside government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though the process that led to the adoption of MMP in New Zealand in 1993 has been studied widely, one key step in that process—the National Party's decision in 1990 to promise a referendum on electoral reform—has received less attention. It has commonly been assumed that that promise was motivated by short-term electoral calculation. In fact, however, the evidence suggests that reality was more complex and that the principled support of some leading National Party politicians for constitutional reform also played an important role. This article weighs the evidence for the various individual motivations that may have underlain the decision to make the promise, before offering a mixed-motivation interpretation according to which short-term self-interest, genuine belief in constitutional reform, and recognition of the medium-term need to respond to public disquiet all contributed. It finally draws out implications for our understanding of the origins of MMP in New Zealand and for the study of electoral reform more widely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Zealand's mixed member proportional (MMP) electoral system created nationwide party list MPs who had to develop their constituency roles in the context of historically strong links between constituents and their plurality-elected representatives. The article analyses the impact of MMP on the relationship between the two types of MP and voters. Building on theories of legislative behaviour, it proposes hypotheses that are tested against both survey and interview data, addressing the relationship between individuals and MPs and, also, between groups and MPs. A key conclusion is that a dichotomous model of district MPs looking after constituents' individual needs while list MPs respond to nationwide constituencies - although having some foundation - is far too simple a generalization about the early years of the MMP electoral system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an overview of the political structure of New Zealand in 2004. Changes in the cabinet; Issues in national politics, including the speech delivered by National Party Opposition Leader Don Brash on race relations; Results of the local government elections.

The article presents additional information to Thomas Brechtel and André Kaisers' report about political space dimensionality in the electoral reform of New Zealand. The author demonstrates and explains how political scientists can acquire benefits from their involvement in the electoral reform which offers reciprocal gains as well as the influence of secondary issue dimensions on the understanding of political dynamics. He adds that the political struggle experienced by the country can be perceived in terms of multi-dimensional political space and political involvement which can be used for development.

Has the first MMP election in New Zealand in 1996 led to a new party system? We argue that the post-reform party system has changed its format while its mechanics remain virtually unchanged because the underlying competition logic stays bipolar. The fundamental variable that decides if this is a correct description is the existence of a permanent and genuine centre party. In order to assess the potential for establishing such a party we look at three aspects: (1) Based on an expert survey we find that the dimensionality of the party system and party positions have not changed dramatically. This leaves little scope for a change to multipolar party competition. (2) Applying a range of formal coalition theories shows that those theories based on the size principle are particularly successful in predicting the actual outcome of the coalition formation. We argue that the office-seeking motivation plays an important role with those actors located in the centre of the party system. (3) As to the characteristics of the ‘new’ parties in the system, we interpret these parties as ‘Schumpeterian’ political entrepreneurs who instead of being genuine centre parties strategically place themselves in the centre in order to enhance their bargaining power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various developments related to the politics and government of New Zealand in 1998. The decisions of political leaders to change from one political party to another caused public concern because of its effect on the legitimacy of the new Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system. Meanwhile, a by-election was called in the electorate of Taranaki-King Country because former Prime Minister Jim Bolger was appointed as ambassador to the U.S. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, the government took up issues of welfare and work.

The article focuses on the democratic experiment of the New Zealand government with Citizens' Initiated Referendum (CIR) petitions in New Zealand. These CIR petitions are from the Firefighters Union and from the New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and are presented to the Parliament. As a response to the petitions, the national government promised to introduce CIR as part of the policy on improving the country's democracy to reform the electoral and parliament systems and provide members of the public to influence the decisions made by the government. Furthermore, it was stated that the CIR was claimed as widening the power of the people over their elected representatives.

The article analyzes the consequences of the fourth Labor Government's choice of election campaign strategies, which caused its eventual defeat during the 1990 New Zealand national election. It discusses the disjointed election campaign of the Labor Party by citing modern campaign strategies that reflect the inefficacy of partisan disunity and programmatic intransigence in swaying electoral votes. Moreover, it analyzes the organizational structure of the Labor Party's campaign strategy that resulted to its supporters being alienated from the party's objective and ideology.

The article focuses on the 1993 New Zealand general election and the referendum to change the country's voting system. It analyzes the results of the general election as well as the referendum by citing official statistic results generated during the event. Moreover, it discusses the campaign strategies employed by the four political parties to ensure their victories as well as the initiatives established by the government to disseminate information regarding the referendum. Furthermore, it analyzes the distribution of votes during the general election and the referendum, which reflects the desire of the citizens for a new style of governance.

The article discusses various issues related to the politics and government of New Zealand in 1993. There was a decline in support for the two major parties during the general election in November 1993. The cabinet was reorganized in March 1993 after the resignation of Simon Upton as member of the parliament (MP). Meanwhile, voters were asked to choose between the existing first past the post (FPP) or plurality electoral system during a referendum which was held concurrently with the general election.

The article reports on the New Zealand Parliament as of July 2014. Topics discussed include the adjournment of the 50th Parliament on July 31, 2014 ahead of the September 20, 2014 general election, the Parliamentary Privilege Bill which passed its third reading and Committee of the whole House stage on July 31, and the Vulnerable Children Bill which passed its third reading on June 19.