[EM] Accountability under MMP: The New Zealand experience (FWD)

[DEMOREP1 at aol.com]

D- The below was put on the Canada Votes email list 
(canada-votes at egroups.com) on Nov. 29, 1999 by Mr. Frampton (not me).
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Saturday's election in New Zealand shows just how much -- or perhaps that
should be how little -- ability the voters have to remove an MP under the
Mixed Member Proportional system.  Eight incumbent electorate (i.e.
constituency) MPs who ran for reelection were defeated -- but five of them
won List seats based on their party's share of the overall vote and are
therefore still in Parliament!!  Here is a list of who they are, their
constituency and how they fared:

National Party:
David Carter - Banks Peninsula *
Belinda Vernon - Maungakiekie *
Max Bradford - Rotorua *
Marie Hasler - Titirangi *
Bob Simcock - Hamilton West
Ian Revell - Northcote

New Zealand First:
Jenny Bloxham - Dunedin South

ACT:
Richard Prebble - Wellington Central *

* denotes winners of List seats

Bob Simcock was just below David Carter on the National list, so he would
have stayed in Parliament if National had qualified for any more List seats!
Presumably he would take the place of any National List MP who might step
down before the next election.

This shows a major flaw of MMP -- and any other mixture of constituency and
list systems.  MPs defeated at the constituency level can -- and very often
do -- get right back in by winning a List seat.  This violates the basic
principle of representative government my effectively preventing the voters
from removing an MP who has lost their confidence.

Bill Frampton
Vice-President
Freedom Party of Ontario
http://www.freedomparty.org/
billfr at iosphere.net