Home » Karen Hayes
Karen Hayes
Skip to content top
Submitted on 17/04/2012 - 2:19am relating to the issue
Should the 5% threshold be kept or changed? Why? If you recommend change, what should it be and why?:
There should be no 5% threshold. Rather, the minimum percentage should be whatever represents one candidate. A party that can reach this level should be able to have a single representative in Parliiament to represent that proportion of the electorate that voted for them.
Should the one electorate seat threshold be kept or changed? Why? If you recommend change, what should it be and why?:
The biggest flaw of MMP is the ability of very small parties to win a seat and then bring others into Parliament 'on their coat-tails'. The Act Party Rodney Hide/ John Banks fiasco is just farcical and open to abuse by the bigger parties. There should not be a one electorate seat threshold. If a candidate wins an electorate seat they should be bale to represent that electorate but their party should not gain more votes in Parliament out of it. That should be determined by their proportion of the Party Vote.
Should there be a different combination of thresholds? What should they be and why?:
No. As above, the minimum percentage to gan one seat should be the minimum percentage to have a party represented in Parliament. Electorate seats should be allocated according to how they are won, but no extra entitlement should come with them.