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Referendum on MMP needs rebranding

The talk of a referendum on the need and usefulness of the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) voting system has surfaced yet again, following the Government’s announcement to seek public mandate on the issue.

The first step towards the move got a nod from lawmakers on November 22 when the Select Committee of Parliament allowed the ‘Electoral Referendum Bill’ to move to Parliament for voting.

The Referendum is now certain to go ahead and New Zealanders would be asked if they wish to retain MMP or prefer an alternative system.

The referendum would be held alongside the general election next year, fulfilling a pre-election promise made by the National Party in 2008.

If the current mood of the people is any indication, they would vote against MMP.

But do not expect an overnight change.

If the majority opinion is against the system, a second referendum would be held in 2014 and Parliament would then decide the future steps.

Who Cares?

Most people say that Members of Parliament may not favour scrapping the MMP system, since it would not be in their interest.

On the face of it, the MMP system of democracy has a number of positive aspects, which reinforces the democratic ideals of proper representation and allowing competent men and women to enter politics ‘through the side door.’

Bicameral legislature is common in many countries, with two houses of Parliament, with elected and nominated members. It is the House of Lords in Britain, the National Assembly and the Senate in France, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in India and so on.

Referendums have been instrumental in dismantling communism and in the transition to democracy in countries throughout the former Soviet Empire. They have also successfully eased democratic transitions in Spain, Greece, South Africa, Brazil and Chile, among other countries.

In most established democracies, direct appeals to voters are now part of the machinery for constitutional change. Their use to resolve the most intractable or divisive public issues has also grown. In the 17 major democracies of Western Europe, only three (Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway) make no provision for referendums in their constitution. Only six major democracies (the Netherlands, US, Japan, India, Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany) have never held a nationwide referendum.

The volatile voter

According to the Economist, frustrated voters in Italy and New Zealand have used referendums to force radical changes to voting systems and other political institutions on a reluctant political elite.

In Switzerland and several American states, referendums are a central feature of the political system, rivalling legislatures in significance.

Outside the US and Switzerland, referendums are most often called by Governments only when they are certain of victory, and to win endorsement of a policy they intend to implement in any case.

Rebranding MMP system

But MMP may be a different kettle of fish.

Its removal would radically change the way we elect people to Parliament.

Representation through direct election may never allow some ethnic minorities to become lawmakers. For instance, no person of Indian origin would ever be able to win an election- certainly not with its divisive and ‘dominate-by-money’ approach.

We must therefore rebrand the proportional representation system and pick people of erudition, eminence and calibre from across the social spectrum and appoint them to Parliament for a longer term (say five years). They should be across party lines and foster the interest of the people.

Although referendums (outside Switzerland and the US) have been used to legitimise constitutional change or redrawing of boundaries, elected politicians have also found them useful for referring to voters those issues they find too hot to handle or which cut across party lines.

Often these concern moral or lifestyle choices, such as alcohol prohibition, raising the age limit for its purchase and consumption, prostitution reform and abortion. The outcome on such emotive topics can be difficult to predict.

In divorce and abortion referendums, for example, Italians have shown themselves more liberal, and the Irish more conservative, than expected.

The Poster published here refers to the referendum undertaken in 1993 seeking public opinion on MMP. While the first poll held earlier was somewhat muted, this campaign witnessed an intense propaganda war between the Electoral Reform Coalition (ERC) and the Campaign for Better Government (CBG) which advocated the First Past the Post system. Source: Electoral Commission, New Zealand.

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