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Electoral Reform in New Zealand has, in recent years, become a political issue as major changes have been made to both Parliamentary and local government elections. PARLIAMENTARY ELECTORAL REFORM ] All New Zealand Elections from 1914 to 1996 have consistently used the British system of ' First Past The Post ' (FPP) for parliamentary elections ( Bloc Voting and Runoff Voting were also used in some elections before 1914) . This system had consistently favoured the two largest parties, since 1936 being National and Labour . Indeed, the system distorted electoral results, such as in 1978 and 1981 , when National won more seats even though Labour had won more votes. In 1984 , Labour was elected to power. Deputy Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer , also Minister of Justice, established the Royal Commission On The Electoral System in 1985 . The Royal Commission's report, in 1986 , entitled ''Towards a Better Democracy'' recommended the adoption of Mixed Member Proportional . The report was, initially, largely ignored outside of academic circles. At the 1987 Election , Prime Minister David Lange promised to hold a referendum on changing to MMP at, or before, the next election. None was held, and thus at the 1990 Election , National (under Jim Bolger ) promised to hold a referendum before the 1993 Election . In 1992 , a non-binding poll was held on whether or not FPP should be replaced by a new, more proportional voting system. Voters were asked two questions: whether or not to replace FPP with a new voting system; and which system should be adopted instead. A second, binding, referendum was to be held the following year, in which voters would choose between FPP and the new system chosen to replace it. Voters favouring a new system could choose between the following:
The result was in 84.5 per cent favour of replacing FPP, with an overwhelming majority of those favouring a new electoral system voting for MMP. The percentages of the vote cast for the four possible electoral system options offered in the second question were: Supplementary Member 5.5% Single Transferable Vote 17.5% Mixed Member Proportional 70.3% Alternative Vote 6.6% The second, binding, referendum was held at the same time as the 1993 election, and favoured MMP. The first election using MMP was held in 1996 . ''Details of MMP in New Zealand can be found at Electoral System Of New Zealand .'' National and Labour have thus lost their dominance in the House. Neither as yet been able to hold a majority within the House. Instead, MMP has introduced New Zealand to coalition governments. Indeed, since 1998 there have been minority coalition governments relying on supply and confidence from parties outside of government. Prior to the switch to MMP, New Zealand largely had a two party system, with government interchanging between Labour and National since 1935 . With the introduction of MMP, there has been a widening of political parties represented within the House. After the 1996 Election , there were seven political parties, and with the creation of the Māori Party in 2004 , there became eight parties. The number of political parties is expected to fall as happened in Germany after their adoption of MMP. The transition to MMP has caused Disproportionality to fall. (source: Jonathan Boston, Stephen Church, Stephen Levine, Elizabeth McLeay and Nigel Roberts, ''New Zealand Votes: The General Election of 2002'' (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2003) {Link without Title} LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS Up until the 2004 Local Body Elections , all Territorial were elected using the Bloc Vote (although often referred to as first-past-the-post). In 2004, at the discretion of the council, they could use the Single Transferable Vote . All Regional authorities must still use FPP. All District Health Boards must use STV. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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