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Electoral reform in New Zealand has been a political issue in the past as major changes have been made to both parliamentary and local government electoral systems.
National elections in New Zealand were first held in 1853[1] and were conducted over a period of two and a half months. At this time, the country was divided into 24 electorates, who elected one, two or three members (MPs) depending on their population.[2] In the multiple-seat districts, multiple non-transferable vote (block voting) was used; in the single-seat districts the basic first-past-the-post (FPP) was used.
This system continued for a long time, with major diversions being only a change to the second ballot system (a type of two-round system), used for the 1908 election and 1911 election and swiftly repealed in 1913.[3]
In the 1993 electoral reform referendum, New Zealanders voted to adopt the mixed-member proportional (MMP) system, which was first used in 1996. MMP is a system of proportional representation in which there is a mix of electorate MPs and list MPs. Proportional representation led to an increase in minor parties entering Parliament, making multi-party governments the norm. Since the introduction of MMP, there have been occasional proposals for further reform; in a 2011 referendum, New Zealanders voted to retain MMP.