Dear Editor,
Your vote doesn’t count under proportional representation.
My cousin, Mr. Winston Peters, lost his seat in the last new Zealand general election under the proportional representation (PPR) voting system, but his small party, the New Zealand First Party, gained enough seats to hold the balance of power. Winston, being the leader of the New Zealand First Party, started negotiating with the two major parties, the National Party and the Labour Party.
Winston normally sides with the National party but this time he went with the Labour Party. These negotiations took around two months, holding up the forming of government. Winston, as an unelected politician, ended up as minister of Foreign Affairs and deputy prime minister.
When the prime minister, Ms. Adern, took maternity leave, unelected Winston Peters became the prime minister of New Zealand during that period.
Under the PPR voting system, politicians can manipulate the system and small parties can force the government to follow their agenda under the threat of withdrawing their support for the government.
Don’t get me wrong. I like Winston. It’s just the voting system I don’t like. None of my friends and relatives in New Zealand that I have spoken to like it either. They say that they find it too complicated and never know where their vote ends up.
After years of PPR they all want to go back to the First Past the Post voting system.
D. Hay, Langley