Page 5 - English-DBINZ brochure-2019

Buddle Findlay 2

Section 2
ABOUT NEW ZEALAND

Political system

New Zealand is an independent realm of the British Commonwealth. Queen Elizabeth II is the Head
of State. However, convention dictates that she and her representative in New Zealand, the Governor
General, remain politically neutral and follow the advice of government ministers (except in exceptional
circumstances).
New Zealand has a mixed member proportional (MMP) electoral system. MMP is a form of proportional
representation based on the German model, where voters each cast a party vote (to choose the political
party they want to represent them in Parliament) and an electorate vote (to choose which individual from
their electorate they want to be their member of Parliament).
New Zealand has an independent and democratically elected Parliament consisting of one house, the
House of Representatives. The House of Representatives has 120 members of whom 64 represent the
general geographic electorates, seven represent Māori geographic electorates and 49 are political
party list members. The total number of members each party has in the House of Representatives is
determined by the proportion of the party vote it receives. If a party has fewer electorate members in
the House of Representatives than required by its party vote, list members are added to make up the
difference. General elections are held every three years and the next one is scheduled to take place in
2020.
Historically, the two significant political parties have been Labour (centre left) and National (centre
right). Under MMP, however, smaller political parties play an influential role in government. The current
government is Labour-led and governs under Prime Minister, Hon. Jacinda Ardern through a coalition
agreement between Labour and New Zealand First, and a confidence and supply agreement between
Labour and the Green Party, giving it a governing total of 63 seats in the House of Representatives.
Police, education, health, fire and social welfare services are under the control of central government.
Territorial authorities, such as district and city councils, administer local community services such as
rubbish collection and water supply.