NZ Doesn’t Need First Past the Post - Nick Leggett

The last thing New Zealand needs is a First-Past-the-Post nostalgia trip, according to Porirua Mayor Nick Leggett.

"Given the huge challenges we face as a country, I can't think of anyone other than paid lobbyists who believe we can afford a diversionary trip down memory lane over our electoral system" Mayor Leggett said today in response to the Vote for Change campaign launch.

"Our experience with electoral change in Porirua - when we changed our local voting system from First Past the Post to STV some years ago -- confirmed my view that proportional systems work best for a diverse democracy like New Zealand. We now have a council that looks like its community and it is the most representative in New Zealand. That's because we dumped First Past the Post and ran with STV."

On a national scale, MMP has greatly expanded the range of voices heard in our Parliament -- and, of course, we find some of them jarring at times. Democracy wasn't supposed to be easy.

"For example, the number of women elected to our Parliament in the first 12 years of MMP exceeds the number elected in the 77 years before that. I challenge any proponent of a lurch back to First-Past-the-Post to explain how this has been detrimental to New Zealand democracy."

Mayor Leggett also believes the debate over New Zealand's electoral system is an unwelcome distraction in a difficult economic period. "I don't believe there is a single New Zealander who believes that our ability to build a prosperous and sustainable future will be helped in the slightest by this needless debate."

Nick Leggett, who is New Zealand's youngest Mayor in a generation, said that he would be doing what he can to encourage the residents of Porirua to look forward and not backwards when it comes to the coming referendum.

"I fear there is a well-heeled minority who want to bamboozle us into letting a discredited electoral system like First-Past-Post to make an entirely unwelcome comeback," Mr Leggett said.

ENDS

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