Criteria for judging voting systems

We have adopted 10 criteria against which to test the existing plurality system and other possible systems.  The criteria follow from the discussion in Chapter 1.  No voting system can fully meet the ideal standards set by the criteria.  Nor are the criteria all of equal weight.  Some of them, if carried to their full extent, are mutually compatible.  Others overlap and none is independent.  If a system is designed to achieve one particular objective, the likelihood of meeting other objectives may thereby be lessened.  The best voting system for any country will not be one which meets any of the criteria completely but will be one which provides the most satisfactory overall balance between them, taking account of that country’s history and current circumstances.

(a) Fairness between political parties. 

When they vote at elections, voters are primarily choosing between alternative party Governments.  In the interests of fairness and equality, therefore, the number of seats gained by a political party should be proportional to the number of voters who support that party.

(b) Effective representation of minority and special interest groups. 

The voting system should ensure that parties, candidates and MPs are responsive to significant groups and interests.  To facilitate this, membership of the House should not only be proportional to the level of party support but should also reflect other significant characteristics of the electorate, such as gender, ethnicity, socio-economic class, locality and age.

(c) Effective Maori representation. 

In view of their particular historical, Treaty and socio-economic status, Maori and the Maori point of view should be fairly and effectively represented in Parliament.

(d) Political integration. 

While the electoral system should ensure that the opinions of diverse groups and interests are represented it should at the same time encourage all groups to respect other points of view and to take into account the good of the community as a whole.

(e) Effective representation of constituents. 

An important function of individual MPs is to act on behalf of constituents who need help in their dealings with the Government or its agencies.  The voting system should therefore encourage close links and accountability between individual MPs and their constituents.

(f) Effective voter participation. 

If individual citizens are to play a full and active part in the electoral process, the voting system should provide them with mechanisms and procedures which they can readily understand.  At the same time, the power to make and unmake governments should be in the hands of the people at an election and the votes of all electors should be of equal weight in influencing election results.

(g) Effective government. 

The electoral system should allow Governments in New Zealand to meet their responsibilities.  Governments should have the ability to act decisively when that is appropriate and there should be reasonable continuity and stability both within and between Governments.

(h) Effective Parliament. 

As well as providing a Government, members of the House have a number of other important parliamentary functions.  These include providing a forum for the promotion of alternative Governments and policies, enacting legislation, authorising the raising of taxes and the expenditure of public money, scrutinising the actions and policies of the executive, and supplying a focus for individual and group aspirations and grievances.  The voting system should provide a House which is capable of exercising these functions as effectively as possible.

(i) Effective parties. 

The voting system should recognise and facilitate the essential role political parties play in modern representative democracies in, for example, formulating and articulating policies and providing representatives for the people.

(j) Legitimacy. 

Members of the community should be able to endorse the voting system and its procedures as fair and reasonable and to accept its decisions, even when they themselves prefer other alternatives.