News and Comment

The latest news and commentary from the Electoral Reform Society.

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How did New Zealand get proportional representation?

Prior to 1996, MPs were elected to New Zealand’s House of Representatives using the same unrepresentative First Past The Post (FPTP) system that is used to elect MPs to the UK’s House of Commons. Since...

Posted 02 Aug 2022

New Zealand’s journey provides lessons for the UK

ERS in the Press – October 2020

This month has seen a renewed interest in proportional representation internationally. Willie Sullivan backed up the case for a fairer voting system in Canada, drawing on his experience in Scotland. “If you want a system...

Posted 29 Oct 2020

pile of newspapers

Early voting doesn’t have to mean long queues

Two news stories stood out this week. As early voting opened in some US states, images of voters queuing all day to vote were greeted as signs of enthusiasm in America but confusion outside, while...

Posted 15 Oct 2020

How and when you can vote is itself a political issue

New Zealand’s MMP electoral system: how does it work?

New Zealand actor Jack Buchanan explains how MMP works in this music video created in partnership with the New Zealand Electoral Commission. Politics in New Zealand can look to outsiders to be much like politics...

Posted 14 Oct 2020

New Zealand MMP song

What does preferential voting mean?

There has been talking recently about using preferential voting to solve the Brexit impasse – whether through MPs using it to find a form of Brexit that parliament can support or through a referendum. When...

Posted 26 Mar 2019

Preferential votes have been used around the world

New Zealand election: Citizens make the most of fair votes

Saturday saw New Zealand go to the polls for its eighth election since they ditched the broken first past the post system and adopted Mixed-Member Proportional representation (MMP) in 1993. Mixed-Member Proportional is a variant...

Posted 27 Sep 2017

New Zealand parliament