STV – Petition to Wellington Regional Council

Wednesday, 17 September 2008

Press Release: Electoral Reform Coalition - Wellington

MEDIA RELEASE                Contact Phil Saxby 027 205 4545  or 934 1779
17TH SEPTEMBER 2008

Petition to Greater Wellington Regional Council for STV

The Electoral Reform Coalition is launching a petition to have STV adopted by the Greater Wellington Regional Council.  It says the current Wellington City referendum on STV (Single Transferable Vote) has stimulated a lot of interest in STV.

“The Wellington City referendum on STV (Single Transferable Vote) gives voters a chance to vote decisively to keep STV, which is a far superior system to the old FPP system,” says Wellington ERC spokesperson Phil Saxby.  It’s a good time to promote STV to the whole region so there can be one electoral system for the whole area, he says.

The petition will be launched at Wellington Railway station at 5.30 p.m. on Thursday 18 September.  “The Railway station was chosen to symbolise the greater Wellington region”, says Phil Saxby.  “We need to collect 20,000 signatures across the whole region by the end of February 2009”.

The majority of local voters already use STV to elect their councils, says the ERC.  As well as Wellington City, Porirua and Kapiti councils both use STV, and the local District Health Boards are elected by STV.  “We should have one system for Wellington.”

“STV is a better system because all votes have equal value – they are not wasted in huge numbers as with the old FPP system,” says Phil Saxby. 

“You get a more representative Council – all three local Councils elected by STV have councillors in their 20s.  How many FPP councils can say the same?” he asks.

Young councillors elected by STV locally are Hayley Wain (Wellington), Nick Leggett (Porirua) and  Anne Molineux (Kapiti).

“STV is as easy as 1, 2, 3.  Do voters really find it confusing, as opponents of STV are always claiming?  Most voters would find it enjoyable to express their preferences for several candidates, instead of being limited to supporting just two or three candidates in a small ward.  Voters know their second choice, or third and later choices will count, even if their first preferred candidate misses out.”

STV deserves the support of all electors who care about democracy.

Ends

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