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Thread ID: 89980	2008-05-18 22:07:00	Referendum on NZ Voting System	Digby (677)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
670526	2008-05-18 22:07:00	Hi Guys Seeing as how National have raised the issue If there was a poll on it what voting system would you vote for I myself like Proportional Representation as it allows for smaller parties to get started and become a major third party. But I do not like the system of MMP we have as it allows list MP's to get into Parliament that we voted out ! First Past the Post allowed for National to get in when Labor got more votes and vice versa which is hardly fair. And it also seems to guarantee the continued existence of only 2 parties. What do you say ?	Digby (677)
670527	2008-05-19 04:36:00	There are two systems that stand out for fairness. 1. The single transferable vote - The elector, lists the candidates in order of preference - if on the first cut his candidate of choice is the lowest scoring candidate the vote is transferred to the second choice, and so on until the outcome for the electorate is settled between the final 2. This is different to preferential voting where the parties decide where preferences are allocated. 2 The second system, is like first past the post, but if there are more than two candidates in an electorate there is a run off election between the two top scoring candidates, the following weekend. (This is used in France) Both these systems give the successful candidate a legitimate mandate, as a majority of voters have got an acceptable result, and are difficult for politicians to manipulate. They also encourage the voters to think carefully about how they vote, and hopefully raise the quality of candidates. NZ's system of MMP gives a most unsatisfactory outcome, it is two easily manipulated by politicians for their own benefit, and makes it virtually impossible for the electorate to dump an unacceptable MP that a party wishes to keep in parliament. It has also caused some of the worst government in NZ's history. Of Course Winston Peters and others think it is bloody marvellous	KenESmith (6287)
670528	2008-05-19 05:28:00	FPP- Clean and Simple and easy to understand.	beeswax34 (63)
670529	2008-05-19 06:19:00	Which one has the higher chance of a whitewash and the person wiping out all of parliment and having only one party to rule them all?? lol	rob_on_guitar (4196)
670530	2008-05-19 07:39:00	FPP- Clean and Simple and easy to understand. It however does give parties too much power, look at the government in the 80's and 90's, they constantly broke their promises, and caused a lot of damage to NZ. MMP has it's problems, but FPP is worse IMHO. STV is supposed to be better, but the potiticals wanted MMP, which is why it was so heavily advertised at the time.	robbyp (2751)
670531	2008-05-19 07:48:00	I'm keen to stay the same, when we change it seems we end up with more politicians, something that shouldn't be.... BTW I'm the only person I know that voted for MMP last time.	porkster (6331)
670532	2008-05-19 22:58:00	With STV there is one politician per electorate so we could reduce the number of politicians to 65, or back to 80 as previous. The best features of STV is that it is fair, it delivers a definite mandate, and it can't be manipulated by the political parties like MMP has to the peoples disadvantage. Keep the bastards honest - don't help them screw the people.	KenESmith (6287)
670533	2008-05-19 23:56:00	Hi Guys Seeing as how National have raised the issue If there was a poll on it what voting system would you vote for I myself like Proportional Representation as it allows for smaller parties to get started and become a major third party. But I do not like the system of MMP we have as it allows list MP's to get into Parliament that we voted out ! First Past the Post allowed for National to get in when Labor got more votes and vice versa which is hardly fair. And it also seems to guarantee the continued existence of only 2 parties. What do you say ? My experience of MMP is 1) That small parties have naf ideas & get them passed to law because of the king maker position they find themselves. 2) It costs us twice as much to fund due to extra MP's and the longer time and debate taken to pass sensible bills.	SolMiester (139)
670534	2008-05-20 01:03:00	I reckon MMP has failed miserably, as minority parties (in my opinion, the greens) attach themselves to bigger ones (labor) like leaches, then push a minority agenda via the bigger party, and piss off the majority. I think that's one of the reasons labor has done so badly, too many coalitions. I've always thought that JK was all talk, and even if he is, this might make me vote for him (if I could vote) (that and the fibre network he's promised). But then again, there is an awful lot of pointless bickering, and JK also wants to increase national debt from 20% to 25. Real smart. Help poor people by making them poorer. Oops, got a bit OT there...	ubergeek85 (131)
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