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| Our electoral system. | |
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| Topic Started: 21 Sep 2014, 06:01 PM (142 Views) | |
| Sandy | 21 Sep 2014, 06:01 PM Post #1 |
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After our general election yesterday, I thought I'd try to briefly mention it.. As some may know, we now use the MMP or Mixed Member Proportional' voting system her now, we used to use the FPP or 'First Past the Post' system, but MMP was seen as fairer as some electorates were bigger than others, so parties won or lost easily because they got less electorate votes than the other, MMP was supposed to balance things out a little.. The National party, who won again last night have always been seen as the rich man's or businessman's party in that they tend to look after the well off and rich, this includes the countries farmers,or has done.. The Labour party is more of a working man's party, and look out for the lower and low income people in the country.. There's a lot of minor parties here, too many to name now, but their policies seem to be similar in some ways to those of the two main parties, so with MMP running here, one or the other of the main two parties can form a coalition with two or three of the minor parties and form a government.. Last election the National Party only got 54 out of the 60 seats they needed for a win, but after they'd had talks with a couple of the minor parties they got 63 seats, which was enough to form a government, so they had the reigns for 3 years.. It's interesting to note that about 15 years ago we had a referendum asking if we wanted to increase the term a government had from 3 years to 4 years.. Despite over 50% of voters saying they'd like to see a 4 year term, it never happened.. It'll be interesting to see if this one ever returns or not and is put to the voters here again, it was surprising how many thought a 4 year term was a better time frame to get things done in.. Sadly for the low income people, and those on the pension and benefits, we have a National government again after yesterdays election, had it gone to Labour I feel the low income folk would've ended up better off than they are at present, still we can all vote again in 3 years time, by then more people may want a change... |
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| Mozzie | 21 Sep 2014, 10:25 PM Post #2 |
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Out There Somewhere
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I don't vote, not worth it, two idiots opposite sides, your not going to win |
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| Sandy | 22 Sep 2014, 03:08 AM Post #3 |
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You surprise me Mozzie mate, every vote counts eh.. I think that's why things went so badly here for Labour, there was a good 300,000 people didn't turn up to vote, if they all had, things would be different now, we'd have Labour in instead of National again according to what I've heard, seems they could've formed a coalition if they'd got 3 or 4 more seats, then the low income would be a bit better off than they are now... |
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| Sandy | 10 Oct 2014, 05:26 PM Post #4 |
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Thinking about the different electoral systems we have around, none seem perfect.. Before we had MMP we had the FTTP, or first past the post, this was flawed in some ways as some electorates had more voters than others in them, so while a party may have won more electorates than the opposition, the opposition often got more votes, so the party we didn't want still got into power, or back into power.. MMP has good points, but it brings in more politicians here, we used to have 90 politicians with FTTP, now with MMP we have 120 MP's, so 30 more salaries to pay, plus all the perks of course.. It seems to me it'd be good to go back to the FTTP, but if we did, I think changes need to be made, one change being that each electorate had a similar amount of voters in it in order to make the outcome of an election fair.. If MMP was to stay, then I feel the amount of politicians should drop from 120 back to 90, which we had a referendum on, then there'd need to be changes made so list members couldn't get in on an electorate vote, or vice versa.. I think whatever voting system is used, the MP's need to be more accountable to their constituents, or the voters in their electorates.. At present an MP pretty much says one thing on the campaign trail, then once into parliament all they said gets forgotten or falls by the wayside.. IMHO it's almost a pity public floggings are illegal as they'd have most MP's doing a far better job for their electorates than at present.. We also had a referendum about the term a government should serve, the choice was 3 years or 4 years, it was surprising that over two thirds of voters thought 4 years was a good term, mainly because they felt 3 years wasn't quite enough time to get everything the party planned to do to get done.. Surprisingly after some 15 years we still have a 3 year term for a government, I can't remember if MP's were in favour of 4 years or not, but if you're in the ruling party, then the perks a worth it for 4 years, incentive to increase the term, that and a bigger salary of course.. |
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2:03 PM Jul 11
