New Zealand
New Zealand uses a proportional representation system, with a parliament nominally consisting of 120 seats. Of these, 63 are general electorate seats, with 16 of these seats being for South Island constituencies and the remainder being for the North Island. A further seven seats are specifically for the Māori population with this number determined by the size of the Māori electoral roll. While Māori may choose to be enrolled in either the electoral roll, the use of a separate Māori roll is a continuing controversy in New Zealand, with many seeing it as anachronistic and separatist.
Voters are each entitled to two votes, one for their local electorate contest, and one for the nationwide party vote. The remaining 50 seats are allocated from party lists on a proportional basis, based on the nationwide party vote tally. Occasionally, as in the current parliament, this results in an "overhang" - a 121st seat being required to accommodate the correct proportion of Members of Parliament. Only parties which record either 5% of the nationwide party vote or win one or more electoral seats may be awarded list seats.
The size of New Zealand electorates is determined on a population basis such that all electorates have approximately the same population.
Read more about this topic: List Of Electoral Districts By Nation
Famous quotes containing the word zealand:
“Teasing is universal. Anthropologists have found the same fundamental patterns of teasing among New Zealand aborigine children and inner-city kids on the playgrounds of Philadelphia.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)