Home > New Zealand elections
New Zealand's House of Representatives, commonly called Parliament, is chosen by nationwide election. These elections occur every three years (or earlier, should it be necessary), and take place under the Mixed Member Proportional electoral system. They are co-ordinated by the Chief Electoral Office and the Electoral Commission .
1 Overview of elections
1.1 Voting
New Zealand elections occur when the Prime Minister requests a dissolution of parliament and a fresh election. Theoretically, this can be at any time, although
there is a convention that Prime Ministers should not call elections unless they have no reasonable alternative.
Elections always occur on Saturday, so as to ensure that people are not prevented from voting due to work commitments. Voting is done at various polling stations,
generally established in schools, churches, or other such public places. In the 2002 elections, there were 6,560 such polling stations.
Voting itself is done on printed voting ballots, with voters marking their choices (one candidate vote and one party vote — see MMP) with an ink pen provided for
them. The paper is then placed in a locked ballot box by the voter. It is also possible to cast "special votes" if one is genuinely unable to attend a regular polling
station (such as if one is outside the country or has impaired mobility).
1.2 The electoral roll
The electoral roll is a register of all eligible voters. It is compulsory for anyone who meets the requirements for voting to be on the electoral roll, even if they do not
intend to vote. The roll records the name and address of all voters, although it is possible to be granted an "unlisted" status on the roll in special circumstances, such as when having your details printed in the electoral roll could threaten your personal safety .
1.3 Electorates
An electorate is a voting district. There are currently sixty-nine electorates (seven of which are Maori electorates, reserved for people of Maori ethnicity who choose to place themselves on a separate electoral roll). All electorates should have roughly the same number of people in them — electorate boundaries must occasionally be redrawn to preserve this. The number of people in each electorate is tied to geography — the South Island, the less populous of the country's two main islands, is guaranteed sixteen electorates, and so the number of people per electorate can be found by taking the population of the South Island and dividing by sixteen. From this, the number of North Island and Maori seats is determined.
1.4 Vote counting and announcement
Voting stations close at 7:00pm on election day. The process of counting the votes then begins. Counting is performed by polling officials. Results (both partial and final) are sent to a central office in the capital, Wellington, where they are announced as they arrive. In recent years, election results have been updated live on a dedicated official website, "www.electionresults.govt.nz". Regular vote counting is generally completed on the night of the election, but special votes (see "Voting") can take longer than this, occasionally producing surprise upsets when they are announced. The final results of the election become official when they are confirmed by the Chief Electoral Officer.
