Three days after the full representation rule brought an additional Māori Party MP into Parliament, Jacinda Ardern wants to get rid of it.

“Election rules should be changed rarely, and only for good reason. Labour has no good reason to change the election rules other than its own political advantage,” says ACT Leader David Seymour

“Labour is unlikely to benefit from the full representation rule, and so it wants it gone. Multiple parties have benefited in recent elections: the Māori Party (2014, 2020), ACT (2008) and New Zealand First (1999). In each case the party won a seat and got its full representation from the Party Vote.

“There are two reasons to keep the full representation rule. One is the simple fact that it is the status quo and change requires a good reason, but there isn’t one.

“The second and more important reason is that the full representation rule makes Parliament more representative. The Māori Party has cleared the threshold for parliamentary representation by winning a seat, so why shouldn’t its voters get full representation?

“The original design of MMP, in Germany, contemplated groups such as ethnic Danes being able to have full representation if they won a seat. Our own MMP Royal Commission, in 1986, contemplated that a Māori or Pacific party should get full representation if it won a seat.

“Jacinda Ardern needs to explain why she is so determined that Māori Party voters shouldn’t get their full representation and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer should not take her seat in Parliament.”

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