Media Release: Campaign to Keep MMP.
Sunday October 9, 2011.

Focus on MMP referendum sharpens

Campaign to Keep MMP is looking forward to a sharper focus on the November 26 MMP referendum, as the Electoral Commission's promotional campaign ramps up from today.

A spokesperson for the group, Philip Temple, said that there had been dozens of community meetings up and down the country, newspaper articles and editorials and debates on radio and television, but now was the time to step the discussion up a notch.

Philip Temple said that an important aspect of the referendum was how voters could achieve a modified MMP, if they supported the system overall but may want some tweaks here and there.

If New Zealanders vote to keep MMP then it triggers an independent review of the system which the public could contribute to, he said.

"MMP has worked well for the last 5 elections, and so it is now a good time to take a closer look at how it is working, without needing to throw the baby out with the bathwater,” Philip Temple said.

Campaign to Keep MMP's Auckland based spokesperson Lewis Holden has been out leafleting with MMP supporters on Auckland's North Shore today.

"People I spoke with today have said they were aware of the referendum and were looking forward to receiving the Electoral Commission's material," he said.

"MMP is the fairest system, where everyone's votes count equally no matter where they live. It has delivered stable governments of the left and right. I’m confident that in the final analysis people will recognise MMP is the better of the systems on offer.”

“Most people support MMP or a modified version of it – let’s vote to keep MMP, lock in an independent review of it, and make it work even better,” he said.

ENDS

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