Stephen Berry Backs MMP with Changes

Tamaki Independent candidate Stephen Berry gave his qualified support to the MMP system today. “Overall I support retaining MMP but believe some changes need to be made to improve it. We need to eliminate the five percent threshold, slash the number of MPs to 99 and abolish separate Maori seats!”

Stephen Berry believes the necessity of strategic voting in Epsom for the last three elections is an example of a fundamental flaw in the current MMP system. “The purpose of MMP is to make our elections as democratic as possible. However the five percent threshold means voters in Epsom having to vote for candidates they do not support in order to affect the national result. I say the solution to this is to remove the five percent threshold altogether. If a party gets 2% of the vote they should get 2% of the seats in Parliament.”

Some critics of Berry’s advocacy for eliminating the five percent threshold point out this will mean there are more parties in Parliament and make it more difficult to establish a stable Government. Berry points out, “Totalitarian regimes are often more stable than democratic ones but that doesn't mean they are a good thing. The purpose of having a democratic election system is not to ensure a stable Government, but to provide representation for voters. The most democratic way to do this is through proper proportional representation. I would even argue that a system which makes stable Government more difficult could be seen as a positive. This would make it more difficult for a Government to raise taxes, increase economic regulations and write new laws that violate individual rights.”

Stephen Berry also states that 120 MP’s is far too many politicians for a country the size of New Zealand and it should be reduced to 99 as demanded by the citizens initiated referendum which passed with 81% of the vote in 1999. “When it comes to matters of electoral law I think it is very appropriate that the will of the majority of voters be enacted. Slashing the number of MP’s to 99 will save $2.8 million in MP salaries alone. With less busy body politicians in Parliament cooking up schemes to build utopia at the expense of individual freedom, the liberties of all New Zealanders will also be a bit safer.”

Finally Mr. Berry states that in the twenty first century is a horrendous democratic aberration to have seven Parliamentary seats for which the voting qualification is racially determined. “It is time the Maori seats were abolished immediately. A separate system of Parliamentary seats for Maori is pure state racism and absolutely diametrically opposed to the proper values of a free or democratic society. There should be no Maori parliamentary seats, no Maori seats on Councils and no unelected Maori boards with council votes. Anyone who supports this hideous apartheid in our electoral system is a racist.”

Stephen Berry
Independent candidate, Tamaki
www.facebook.com/mrberrymrberry
www.stephenberry.webs.com

ENDS

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