Electoral system may be reformed after election

Press, 22 June 1987, Page 3

Electoral system may be reformed after election

PA Wellington Big changes to the electoral system would be considered after the election, said the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Geoffrey Palmer, on Saturday. A parliamentary select committee would start work on the reforms based on recommendations from a Royal Commission on the Electoral System, released late last year.

Although the Government had made no commitment to electoral reform, it was Labour Party policy to study the Royal Commission’s report as part of its election platform.

But Mr Palmer said that no judgment would be made either in favour or against the commission’s policy. “The Report of the Royal Commission on the

Electoral System has well and truly launched the boat of electoral reform on New Zealand waters,” he told the Electoral Reform Coalition.

In its report late last year, the commission recommended the adoption of a mixed-member proportional representation, which tended to “over shadow other important recommendations,” Mr Palmer said. Under the recommended system, each voter would have two votes — one for a local M.P. and one for a political party. There would be 120 members of Parliament, half of them elected locally and half in the general seats. Parties would put up a panel of candidates for the general votes.

“Mixed-member pro-

portionai representation would undoubtedly be fairer than the present system. It will ensure the party with the majority vote is elected, which is not the case now,” Mr Palmer said.

Minority groups, as well as Maoris and special interest groups would also be better represented.

It was 1956 when the last big reforms of the electoral system were made. Mr Palmer said New Zealand was one of the few democracies left with a first past the post electoral system.

“We need a more flex ible and responsive system — that is the heart of electoral reform. Democracy is' not only about victory of one side over the other in the battle between ideologies,” he said.