Politics of New Zealand

Almost all parliamentary elections between 1853 and 1996 were held under the first past the post (FPP) electoral system.[18] Under FPP the candidate in a given electorate (district) that received the most votes was elected to the House of Representatives. The only deviation from the FPP system during this time occurred in the 1908 and 1911 elections when a second-ballot system was used; the second-ballot legislation was repealed in 1913.[18] The elections since 1935 have been dominated by two political parties, National and Labour.[18]

Public criticism of the FPP system began in the 1950s and intensified after Labour lost elections in 1978 and 1981 despite having more overall votes than National.[19] An indicative (non-binding) referendum to change the voting system was held in 1992, which led to a binding referendum during the 1993 election.[19] As a result, New Zealand has used the mixed-member proportional (MMP) system since 1996.[20] Under MMP, each member of Parliament is either directly elected by voters in a single-member district via FPP or appointed from their party's list.[13] Parliament currently has 120 seats,[13] though some past elections have resulted in overhang. In the first eight elections under MMP, from 1996 to 2017, no party won a majority of seats.[21]

Seven electorates are reserved for MPs elected on a separate Māori roll. However, Māori may choose to vote in and to run for the non-reserved electorates and for the party list (since 1996), and as a result many have now entered Parliament outside of the reserved seats.[22]

Ballot showing parties, 2011 general election

The first organised political party in New Zealand was founded in 1891, and its main rival was founded in 1909—New Zealand had a de facto two-party system from that point until the adoption of MMP in 1996.[23] Since then New Zealand has been a multi-party system, with at least five parties elected in every election since. By rarely producing an overall majority for one party, MMP also ensures that parties need to come to an agreement with other parties to pass laws.[24] In the late 1990s, a phenomenon called "waka-jumping" emerged as MPs increasingly switched their party allegiance while in Parliament, prompting the implementation of a 2001 law mandating the resignation of waka-jumping MPs; this legislation expired in 2005, but a renewed effort to prevent waka-jumping emerged with the passage of the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2018.[21]

Historically the two largest, and oldest, parties are the New Zealand Labour Party (formed in 1916) and the New Zealand National Party (formed in 1936).[23] Labour has generally positioned itself as centre-left in New Zealand politics,[25] and has featured socialist (historically) and social-democratic principles in its platform and legislation,[26] while National has generally positioned itself as centre-right,[25] and has liberal and conservative tendencies.[27] Other smaller parties represented in Parliament, following the October 2023 general election, are the ACT Party (right-wing, classical-liberal), the Green Party (left-wing, environmentalist), New Zealand First (populist and nationalist), and Te Pāti Māori (indigenous rights-based).[28]

Parties must register with the Electoral Commission in order to contest the party vote in an election.[29]

The table below summarises the results of the latest general election and the numbers of seats won by parties represented in Parliament.

Summary of the 17 October 2020 election for the House of Representatives[30]

Party		Party vote				Electorate vote sum				Total seats	+/-
		Votes	%	Change (pp)	Seats	Votes	%	Change (pp)	Seats
	Labour	1,443,545	50.01	13.12	19	1,357,501	48.07	10.19	46	65	19
	National	738,275	25.58	18.87	10	963,845	34.13	9.92	23	33	23
	Green	226,757	7.86	1.59	9	162,245	5.74	1.17	1	10	2
	ACT	219,031	7.59	7.08	9	97,697	3.46	2.45	1	10	9
	NZ First	75,020	2.60	4.60	0	30,209	1.07	4.38	0	0	9
	Opportunities (TOP)	43,449	1.51	0.94	0	25,181	0.89	0.14	0	0
	New Conservative	42,613	1.48	1.24	0	49,598	1.76	1.52	0	0
	Māori Party	33,630	1.17	0.01	1	60,837	2.15	0.04	1	2	2
	Advance NZ	28,429	0.98	new	0	25,054	0.89	new	0	0	new
	Legalise Cannabis	13,329	0.46	0.15	0	8,044	0.28	0.12	0	0
	ONE	8,121	0.28	new	0	6,830	0.24	new	0	0	new
	Vision NZ	4,237	0.15	new	0	2,139	0.08	new	0	0	new
	Outdoors	3,256	0.11	0.05	0	7,982	0.28	0.23	0	0
	TEA	2,414	0.08	new	0	2,764	0.10	new	0	0	new
	Sustainable NZ	1,880	0.07	new	0	2,421	0.09	new	0	0	new
	Social Credit	1,520	0.05	0.02	0	2,699	0.11	0.09	0	0
	Heartland	914	0.03	new	0	8,462	0.30	new	0	0	new
	Unregistered parties	—	—	—	—	3,391	0.12	0.08	0	0
	Independent	—	—	—	—	7,299	0.26	0.24	0	0
Valid votes		2,886,420	98.88	0.34		2,824,198	96.75	0.58
Informal votes		21,372	0.73	0.32		57,138	1.96	0.80
Disallowed votes		11,281	0.39	0.66		37,737	2.66	1.37
Below electoral threshold		225,182	7.71			—	—	—
Total		2,919,073	100		48	2,919,073	100		72	120
Eligible voters and turnout		3,549,580	82.24	2.49		3,549,580	82.24	2.49

In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of political party funding as a public policy concern. To address this, specific regulations have been implemented to set limits on foreign donations, ensuring that they do not exceed NZ$50[31] and placing restrictions on anonymous donations, which are limited to a maximum of NZ$1,500. These limitations aim to promote transparency and accountability in the political process by curbing the potential influence of foreign and anonymous contributions.[32]

Manuscript copy of the Treaty of Waitangi (in Māori)

After the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, a colonial governor and his small staff acted on behalf of the British Government based on the British political system.[91] Whereas Māori systems had dominated prior to 1840, governors attempting to introduce British systems met with mixed success in Māori communities. More isolated Māori were little influenced by the Government. Most influences were felt in and around Russell, the first capital, and Auckland, the second capital.

The first voting rights in New Zealand were legislated in 1852 as the New Zealand Constitution Act for the 1853 elections and reflected contemporary British practice.[91] The electoral franchise was limited to property-owning male British subjects over 21 years old. The property qualification was relatively liberal in New Zealand compared to Britain, such that by the late 1850s 75% of adult New Zealand European males were eligible to vote, compared to 20% in England and 12% in Scotland.[92] Around 100 Māori chiefs voted in the 1853 election.[93]

During the 1850s provincial-based government was the norm. Provincial councils were abolished in 1876.[91] Politics was initially dominated by conservative and wealthy "wool lords" who owned multiple sheep farms, mainly in Canterbury. During the gold rush era starting 1858 suffrage was extended to all British gold miners who owned a 1-pound mining license. The conservatives had been influenced by the militant action of gold miners in Victoria at Eureka. Many gold miners had moved to the New Zealand fields bringing their radical ideas. The extended franchise was modelled on the Victorian system. In 1863 the mining franchise was extended to goldfield business owners. By 1873 of the 41,500 registered voters 47% were gold field miners or owners.

After the brief Land War period ending in 1864, Parliament moved to extend the franchise to more Māori. Donald McLean introduced a bill for four temporary Māori electorates and extended the franchise to all Māori men over 21 in 1867. As such, Māori were universally franchised 12 years prior to European men.[94]

In 1879 an economic depression hit, resulting in poverty and many people, especially miners, returning to Australia. Between 1879 and 1881 Government was concerned at the activities of Māori activists based on confiscated land at Parihaka. Activists destroyed settlers' farm fences and ploughed up roads and land, which incensed local farmers.[95] Arrests followed but the activities persisted. Fears grew among settlers that the resistance campaign was a prelude to armed conflict.[96] The Government itself was puzzled as to why the land had been confiscated and offered a huge 25,000-acre reserve to the activists, provided they stopped the destruction.[97] Commissioners set up to investigate the issue said that the activities "could fairly be called hostile".[97] A power struggle ensued resulting in the arrest of all the prominent leaders by a large government force in 1881. Historian Hazel Riseborough describes the event as a conflict over who had authority or mana—the Government or the Parihaka protestors.[98]

Richard Seddon's statue stands outside Parliament buildings in Wellington.

In 1882 the export of meat in the first refrigerated ship started a period of sustained economic export-led growth. This period is notable for the influence of new social ideas and movements such as the Fabians and the creation in 1890 of the first political party, the Liberals. Their leader, former gold miner Richard Seddon from Lancashire, was premier from 1893 to 1906. The Liberals introduced new taxes to break the influence of the wealthy conservative sheep farm owners. They also purchased more land from Māori.[99] (By 1910, Māori in parts of the North Island retained very little land, and the amount of Māori land would decrease precipitously as a result of government purchases.[100])

The early 20th century saw the rise of the trade union movement and labour parties (see Socialism in New Zealand § Unions and workers' parties), which represented organised workers. The West Coast town of Blackball is often regarded as the birthplace of the labour movement in New Zealand,[101] as it was the location of the founding of one of the main political organisations which became part of the New Zealand Labour Party.

Māori political affairs have been developing through legislation[102] such as the Resource Management Act 1991 and the Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993 and many more.[102] Since colonisation in the 1800s, Māori have had their customary laws oppressed, with the imposition of a Westminster democracy and political style. As reparations from the colonial war and general discrepancies during colonisation, the New Zealand Government has formally apologised to those iwi affected, through settlements and legislation. In the 1960s Māori Politics Relations began to exhibit more positivity. The legislature enacted a law to help Māori retrieve back their land, not hinder them, through the Māori Affairs Amendment Act 1967.[103] Since then, this progressive change in attitude has materialised as legislation to protect the natural environment or Taonga, and the courts by establishing treaty principles that always have to be considered when deciding laws in the courts.[104] Moreover, the Māori Lands Act 2016 was printed both in te reo Māori and English—the act itself affirms the equal legal status of te reo.

Kate Sheppard is the country's most famous suffragist.

Women's suffrage was granted after about two decades of campaigning by women such as Kate Sheppard and Mary Ann Müller and organisations such as the New Zealand branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. On 19 September 1893 the governor, Lord Glasgow, signed a new Electoral Act into law.[105] As a result, New Zealand became the first self-governing nation in the world in which all women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.[16] Women first voted in the 1893 election, with a high 85% turnout (compared to 70% of men).[106]

Women were not eligible to be elected to the House of Representatives until 1919 though, when three women, including Ellen Melville stood. The first woman to win an election (to the seat held by her late husband) was Elizabeth McCombs in 1933.[105] Mabel Howard became the first female cabinet minister in 1947, being appointed to the First Labour Government.[107]

New Zealand was the first country in the world in which all the highest offices were occupied by women, between March 2005 and August 2006: the Sovereign Queen Elizabeth II, Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright, Prime Minister Helen Clark, Speaker of the House Margaret Wilson, and Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias.[108][109]

As of 2020, 60 of the 120 MPs in the House of Representatives (50%) are women—the highest number since women were first allowed to stand for Parliament in 1919.[110][111]

The right-leaning National Party and the left-leaning Labour Party have dominated New Zealand political life since a Labour government came to power in 1935. During fourteen years in office (1935–1949), the Labour Party implemented a broad array of social and economic legislation, including comprehensive social security, a large scale public works programme, a forty-hour working week, and compulsory unionism.[112][113] The National Party won control of the government in 1949, accepting most of Labour's welfare measures. Except for two brief periods of Labour governments in 1957–1960 and 1972–1975, National held power until 1984.[113]

The greatest challenge to the first and later Labour governments' policies on the welfare state and a regulated economy that combined state and private enterprise came from the Labour Party itself.[114] After regaining control in 1984, the fourth Labour government instituted a series of radical market-oriented reforms. It privatised state assets and reduced the role of the state in the economy.[115] It also instituted a number of other more left-wing reforms, such as allowing the Waitangi Tribunal to hear claims of breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi to be made back to 1840.[116] In 1987, the government introduced the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act, banning visits by nuclear powered ships; the implementation of a nuclear-free zone brought about New Zealand's suspension from the ANZUS security alliance with the United States and Australia.[117]

In October 1990, the National Party again formed a government, for the first of three three-year terms. Despite promises to halt the unpopular reform process, the new National government largely advanced the free-market policies of the preceding government. Public disillusionment resulting from perceived "broken promises" of the previous two governments fuelled demand for electoral reform in New Zealand.[118] In 1996, New Zealand inaugurated the new electoral system (mixed-member proportional representation, or MMP) to elect its Parliament.[119] The MMP system was expected (among numerous other goals) to increase representation of smaller parties in Parliament and appears to have done so in the MMP elections to date. Between 1996 and 2020, neither National nor Labour had an absolute majority in Parliament, and for all but two of those years a minority government ruled (however, every government has been led by one or other of the two main parties).[120]

MMP parliaments have been markedly more diverse, with greater representation of women, and ethnic minorities and other minority groups.[121] In 1996, Tim Barnett was the first of several New Zealand MPs to be elected as an openly gay person.[122] In 1999, Georgina Beyer became the world's first openly transgender MP elected to a national parliament.[123][124]

After nine years in government, the National Party lost the November 1999 election. Labour under Helen Clark out-polled National and formed a coalition government with Jim Anderton's Alliance, a party to the left of Labour. The coalition partners pioneered "agree to disagree" procedures to manage policy differences.[125] The minority government often relied on support from the Green Party to pass legislation. Labour retained power in the 27 July 2002 election, forming a coalition with Anderton's new Progressive Party, and reaching an agreement for support with the United Future party. Helen Clark remained Prime Minister. In early 2004, Labour came under attack for its policies on the ownership of the foreshore and seabed,[126] eventually culminating in the establishment of a new break-away party, the Māori Party.[127] Following the 2005 general election on 17 September 2005, negotiations between parties culminated in Clark announcing a third consecutive term of Labour-led government. The Labour Party again formed a coalition with the Progressive Party, with confidence and supply from Winston Peters' New Zealand First and Peter Dunne's United Future.[128]

After the general election in November 2008, the National Party moved quickly to form a minority government with ACT, the Māori Party and United Future. This arrangement allowed National to decrease its reliance on the right-wing ACT party, whose free-market policies are sometimes controversial with the greater New Zealand public. In 2008, John Key was appointed Prime Minister, with Bill English his deputy. This arrangement conformed to a tradition of having a north–south split in the major parties' leadership, as Key's residence is in Auckland and English's electorate is in the South Island. On 12 December 2016, English was elected as leader, and thus Prime Minister, by the National Party caucus after Key's unexpected resignation a week earlier. Paula Bennett (member for Upper Harbour) was appointed Deputy Prime Minister, thus continuing the tradition.[129] This north–south arrangement ceased with the next government.

Following the 2017 general election National retained its plurality in the House of Representatives, while Labour greatly increased its proportion of the vote and number of seats. Following negotiations between the major and minor parties, Labour formed a minority government after securing a coalition arrangement with New Zealand First. The new government also agreed a confidence-and-supply arrangement with the Green Party.[50] On 26 October 2017, Labour leader Jacinda Ardern was sworn in as Prime Minister and Winston Peters became her deputy.[130] In the 2020 general election Labour won by a landslide and gained an overall majority of seats in Parliament, sufficient to govern alone—a first under the MMP system.[131] Labour's coalition partner New Zealand First lost its representation in Parliament.[132] Ardern's government was sworn in for a second term on 6 November 2020.[49] The Labour government is currently led by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who assumed office on 25 January 2023 following the resignation of Jacinda Ardern.[133]