NZ Centre for Political Research

This week's poll asks:

Do you support the Electoral Commission’s recommendation to reduce the party vote threshold to 4 percent?

*1. The MMP system has taken NZ to the position it is in now - creating 50,000 economic refugees per year.

2. Decisive government is not possible.

3. Leadership is not able to be gained from the parliament it must come from the electorate and the electorate does not understand basic political economics.

4. MMP has enabled the government to sit on its hands and make decisions in the interests of the government and not the national interest.

5. MMP will enable the government to dodge facing realities in relation to foreign policy and trade - and the pressing need for a change of direction.

6. MMP will not be capable of guiding NZ throught the next global economic collapse that is just around the corner.

7. Do not blame the idiots we elect - blame us!!!

8. The people will change MMP when the food banks run out - so keep them full.

- Frederick

*We need a stronger opposition regardless of who is in power, but this will not be achievable if the threshold is lowered. Even at the current levels,performance of the opposition has been woeful! Kenneth

*Minor parties have too much say now - this potentially gives minor parties even more say. Ivan

*I am an Act supporter more so in the past of Richard Prebble, Roger Douglas. I wanted MMP gone and wanted my unsuccessful vote transferred to my choice. Vote Act, not get in vote transferred to National. Hopefully so Labour doesnt get in by default. Roger

*It's bad enough at 5% threshold. Andrew

This week's poll asks:

Do you support the Electoral Commission’s recommendation to reduce the party vote threshold to 4 percent?

*It should be raised though I would prefer if MMP was dropped altogether. that is how I voted in the referendum. Graeme

*There can be no justification for this. Kevin

*On no account must the threshhold be weakened. Colin

*MMP - a very good system improved by recommendations of Electoral Commission. Jim

*Political claptrap - who is running this country? Max

*Definitely not - it will just lead to yet another weakening of government trying to appease the sometimes crackpot ideas of its forced coalition partners. Graeme

*They should raise it to more like 7%. David

This week's poll asks:

Do you support the Electoral Commission’s recommendation to reduce the party vote threshold to 4 percent?

*It should be increased to 10% in line with other countries who use this stupid system. John

*Scrap MMP altogether. Brian

*I believe it should stay at 5%. Jenny

*Political Suicide. The ruling party cannot carry out any of its mandates never mind more MMP MPs. Margaret

*More "Tail wags dog" legislation. John

*No. 5% was low enough. However I do support Independents sitting in electorates and winning the seat although this is much more likely to exacerbate the multiplicity of non party representatives. I abhore the system of Party Heirachy selecting the lists and deciding on the positions and the fact that an MP who has been rejected by the electorate can return to parliament via the list. Madness. But really, I disagree with MMP and the party system. I would vote for having independents in all of the electorates. There is nothing as cleansing as the firm gaze of the public on would be representatives. Dianna

*If it was not bad enough before ! now the looney bar is proposed to be lowered ! to 4 % . This is a step towards anarchy ! John

*Lowering the threshold, will allow even more lunatic individuals into parliament; and make the present 'ransoming process'which is necessary under MMP in order to form a government, into an even more dangerous gamble. It is bad enough now. Bob

*Lowering the threshold is another step towards anarchy. Peter

*Should be nearer 8%. Douglas

*But in my opinion - and my submission to the Commission - the single answer to most of the problems is:- Make the list up AFTER the election, of candidates who failed to win their seat, in the order of the percentage of votes they received of the votes cast in the electorate in which they were standing. Geoffrey

*Threshold should be increased. Graham

*The original electoral reform recommendations included no need for race-based Maori electorates. The NZ electorate pays dearly for its apathy towards politics & the power politicians weald. David

*I would actually rather it was lower with with tiny parties being able to enter parliament but only able to exercise their proportion of the Parliamentary vote. For example MPs representing the fictitious Completely Stupid Party with only 0.2% of the party vote would have speaking rights but only 0.2% of the votes in Parliament. K

*I agree with all of the NZCPR recommendations for fixing MMP. KERRY

*"Climate Change" is the current mantra because "Global Warming" has been shown to be false the same scientists some 20 - 30 years ago were predicting that Earth was moving into a mini ice-age!! We must not believe in the BS just because our silly politicians do!! Peter

*I do not support the reduction of the party vote threshold to 4 percent. Just makes me wonder what is going on in the political circles of New Zealand? Especially when you have idiots like Findlayson with far too much political clout, and he has not even been elected in a seat. I also wonder what the terms of reference were for the electoral commission? And they wonder why Kiwis are leaving the country in droves!!!!! Neil

This week's poll asks:

Do you support the Electoral Commission’s recommendation to reduce the party vote threshold to 4 percent?

*Leave at 5%. Warwick

*It is a stupid provision for people who are so stupid they hardly deserve the right to vote. Peter

*No way, not ever, no! Get rid of mmp in total. Its one of the main things screwing the country, makes the government pander to minorities, specially Maori. Greece, Spain, Zimbabwe, South Africa, move over, here we come. Ray

*The fewer the tails wagging dogs the more stability, but the List must be limited by some mechanism which doesn't allow Party rejects to get back to parliament by dubious backdoor means. Frank

*We need less parties, not more. Christine

*The system cannot be perfect but some options are less troublesome than others! Dwayne

*It is time we said no. Ashley

*It was blatantly obvious that the voters were being taken for a ride when the politicians decided to give us the review on MMP after the referendum on the voting system. How you can be expected to vote on a system before you know how it will work is an affront to the democratic system. Perhaps New Zealand has passed the point of being a modern democracy. Obviously the 54,000 locals who have left for Australia over the last year would seem to think so! John

*Too much power already held by minor parties which makes unstable government. David

*Raise it to 6 percent. Bryon

*Cut out these party votes, it's only a home for has beens and those who wouldn't make on election night. MMP and the commissions recommendation leaves a lot to be desired. Jobs for the boys and girls. Bill

*Absolute self serving madness. Bruce

*What is the point of all these parties?It is too confusing for the everyday voter so many people did not vote at all in the last election. Mary

*We have too many small Party and non elected Members. The 4% threshold should be abolished. Peter

*A reduction in the threshold will result in a further dilution of the Government's effectiveness and accelerate the plunge into anarchy. What we need to run the country effectively is a Kiwi version of Lee Kuan Yew! Trevor

This week's poll asks:

Do you support the Electoral Commission’s recommendation to reduce the party vote threshold to 4 percent?

*Everyone should be equal in NZ. Catherine

*It is a daft recommendation which will result in even weaker, more pathetic, government than we presently suffer! Peter

*This proposal is to make it easier for self-serving politicians to retain their seats in parliament. Their focus should be on leading the country for the benefit of our citizens. Ann

*Should also reduce the number of list seats. Gail

*Tiny minority parties already have too much influence. This will make it worse. Robbie

*Leave it as it is or increase it to 6%. Marion

*It should be raised substantially. William

*This only increases the undesirable "King Maker" influence on Government. Gerd

*I support the lowered threshold because I am in favour of emerging new Parties (like the Conservative Party) being given a chance to enter the political scene. Voters who are disenchanted with the two major Parties need someone to genuinely represent them.May I make the following points.
1. It seems that our politicians will screw up and distort any voting system we have in place if they can get away with it. We can't trust them. Party Bosses set their own agenda and stitch up deals irrespective of the wishes of the citizens.
2. Our adoption of the Swiss system of Direct Democracy would be an effective counter to the antics of the politicians, I believe.
3. Yes, the tail does seem to wag the dog on occasions but this is because the major Parties allow it. They seem to be incapable of understanding that if you are forming a minority government you are not going to get all you policies adopted. This is because you didn't get enough of a mandate from the people. So you do what you can with the support you can get from time to time from other Parties - but you don't betray your constituents by pushing through unwanted and unmandated legislation such as the Foreshore and Seabed Act and and the antismacking law.
4. Irrespective of our voting system we need genuine representation from our politicians. Wishful thinking? I wonder if right now some of them are planning to push through a race based new Constitution without taking it to the people in a binding referendum. Keep your eye on them folks. Denis

*Anything like that will make MMP worse, not better, and give too much swing power to minor parties - causing New Zealand to suffer even more unstable government and lack of accountability to the citizens. Carl

*I agree with Jordan Williams. There would be too many small parties and it would be impossible to govern in the interests of the country as a whole. It is obviously now apparent that we need binding referenda and especially Amy Brooke's 100 Days concept if we are ever to have a democracy. At the moment politicians do not listen to the people but follow their own wacky agendas, usually doing anything to remain in power, no matter the cost to the rest of us. B+H

This week's poll asks:

Do you support the Electoral Commission’s recommendation to reduce the party vote threshold to 4 percent?

*No as opposed to MMP, as Jordan says, NZ was duped. We will continue to spiral downward as successive Governments are forced to pander to and are hamstrung by minorities in an effort to stay in power, but all that will pale into insignificance if the Maori rort machine is not brought to heel soon. John

*We need decisive government representing the majority of the electorate. Willy

*Come on, electoral commission - get real. Take notice of the New Zealanders, not those with hidden agendas! Ian

*Remove the trheshold altogether as well as the racist seats. All votes should be counted and have equal value. In a Parliament of 120 that would seta an effective threshold of between 0.5% and 0.8% depending on whether or not we rounded up to get a seat. Either we are a representative democracy or not. Ray

*Stability and strong government should be the key outcomes of our voting system not a free for all of special interest groups. Ken

*You either get elected or you don't. We are now seeing the true results of pandering to emotional-blackmailers like the tree-hugging greens and the OVERT RACISTS like the moari party. Time to get real. Not a single real New Zealander wants even more politicians. If Key, Shearer, Sharples and all their political prostitute mates were really interested in a better NZ, they would be bringing in either the Swiss or the English model for government. Instead we are DROWNING in bleeding-heart, die-hard, tree-hugging emotional blackmailers and moari RACISTS. It has to stop before NZ is just like Greece. Mark

This week's poll asks:

Do you support the Electoral Commission’s recommendation to reduce the party vote threshold to 4 percent?

*No - too many small parties lead to too many ridiculous demands and unstable government. Leave the thresholds as they are. Mark

*We should have got rid of MMP. Pat

*If parties can't gain 5% of public support they are not representative enough to be in Parliament. The Maori Party with 1.4% of the party vote has no place in Parliament either! Jim

*A 4% threshold will see more tails wagging more dogs and we've had a guts full of that already. Peter

*The Electoral Commission have got it wrong on the thresholds and also on not tightening the system up so voters are more important than party bosses. That's what we wanted but they haven't delivered. Michael

*There are enough small parties in Parliament already - we don't need a lower threshold to get more. Sue

*MMP has been an absolute disaster for NZ and it will only get worse with the changes that are being proposed. Brian