1996 New Zealand general election

The 1996 New Zealand general election was held on 12 October 1996 to determine the composition of the 45th New Zealand Parliament. It was significant for being the first election to be held under the new mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system, and produced a parliament considerably more diverse than previous elections. Under the new MMP system, 65 members were elected in single-member districts by first-past-the-post voting (including five Māori electorates), while a further 55 "top-up" members were allocated from closed lists to achieve a proportional distribution based on each party's share of the nationwide party vote.

1996 saw the National Party, led by Jim Bolger, retain its position in government, but only after protracted negotiations with the smaller New Zealand First party to form a coalition. New Zealand First won 17 seats—including sweeping every single Māori electorate, all of which had been dominated by the Labour Party since the Second World War. Particular emphasis was placed on New Zealand First's unprecedented success, particularly among Māori; their five Māori electorate winners became known as the "Tight Five". The party's position as "kingmaker" meant they were able to place either of the two major parties into government, a significant election outcome for such a new party.

Various other unusual results occurred under the new system. For one, the National Party sought to ensure the parliamentary representation of the ACT New Zealand, a newly-formed libertarian party which had largely split from the Labour Party after the end of Rogernomics. National endorsed ACT leader and former Labour minister Richard Prebble against their own for Wellington Central, a consistently safe Labour seat. Under New Zealand's MMP rules, a party qualified for list seats if it won at least one electorate seat, regardless of vote share. Bolger thus wanted to ensure ACT could potentially be part of a National-led coalition. Prebble unexpectedly won, though ACT's vote share would have qualified them for MMP in any event. Other unusual occurrences was the large amount of new Māori MPs – leading to the backronym "More Māori in Parliament" for MMP. With the introduction of MMP in 1996, the proportion of Māori in Parliament increased from 8% to 14%, to an all-time record of 17 MPs.

Background

Changes mid-term In the 1993 election, the National Party and the Labour Party had won 50 and 45 seats, respectively. The Alliance and the New Zealand First party had each won two seats. In the approach to MMP, however, there had been considerable rearrangement in parliament, with three new parties being established. As such, the situation just before the 1996 election was markedly different from the situation that had been established at the 1993 election.

PartyIdeologyWon at 1993 electionBy time of 1996 electionReasons for changeNationalLiberal conservatism5041Defection of 9 MPsLabourSocial democracy4541Defection of 4 MPsUnitedCentrism –7Formed by 4 former National MPs and 3 former Labour MPsNZ FirstPopulismAnti-neoliberalism25Initial MPs joined by 2 former National MPs and one former Labour MPAllianceProgressivismGreen politics22No changeConservativeConservatism –1Founded by 2 former National MPs; one later became an independentChristian DemocratsChristian democracy –1Founded by a former National MPIndependents – –1Ross Meurant, a former National (and briefly Conservative) MP

Electoral redistribution The 1996 election was notable for the significant change of electorate boundaries, based on the provisions of the Electoral Act 1993. Because of the introduction of the MMP electoral system, the number of electorates had to be reduced, leading to significant changes. Under MMP, there would be only 65 district members (including five Maori members), down by 34 from the number elected in the 1993 election. The previous 95 non-Maori electorates had to be redrawn into just 60 new electorates. The Maori electorates were redrawn too, due to an increase of one overall.

Many electorates were abolished, with their territories being incorporated into completely new electoral districts. More than half of the electorates contested in 1996 were newly constituted, and most of the remainder had seen significant boundary changes. Wanganui was renamed as Whanganui. In total, 73 electorates were abolished, 29 electorates were newly created, and 10 electorates were recreated, giving a net loss of 34 electorates. The North Island went from about 65 districts to only 44 in the redistribution.

South Island Since the 1967 electoral redistribution, the South Island had its number of general electorates fixed at 25. For the 1996 election and onwards, the number of South Island electorates is fixed at 16. The number of electors on the general roll of the South Island divided by 16 gives the target size for North Island and Māori electorates; this is referred to as the South Island quota.

The electorates of , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and were abolished in the South Island. Six existing electorates (, , , , , and ) were kept. Seven electorates (, , , , , , and ) were newly formed. Three electorates (, , and ) were recreated.

North Island Based on the calculation described above, the target size for North Island electorates resulted in 44 of them being required.

The electorates of , , , , , , , , , , Hauraki, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and were abolished in the North Island. Twenty existing electorates (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and ) were kept. Seventeen electorates (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and ) were newly formed. Eight electorates (, , , , , , and ) were recreated.

Māori electorates All four existing Māori electorates (, , , and ) were abolished. The calculation described above resulted in five Māori electorates being required; these were , , , , and .

List seats The House of Representatives was to have 120 seats, of which 65 were filled through electorate MPs (16 from South Island electorates, 44 from North Island electorates, and 5 from Māori electorates). This left 55 list seats to be filled. An outcome of the election was that no overhang seats were produced. (If they had been, compensation seats might have been required.)

MPs retiring in 1996 Eleven MPs intended to retire at the end of the 44th Parliament.

Party Name Electorate National Robert Anderson Kaimai Philip Burdon Fendalton Warren Cooper Otago Robin Gray Clutha John Falloon Pahiatua Roger McClay Waikaremoana Rob Storey Waikato NZ First Michael Laws Hawkes Bay Labour David Caygill St Albans David Lange Mangere Elizabeth Tennet Island Bay

The election The date of the 1996 election was 12 October; it was brought forward slightly to avoid the need for a by-election following the resignation of Michael Laws, as a by-election is not needed if there will be a general election within 6 months of a seat being vacated.

Of the 2,418,587 people registered to vote, 88.3% turned out to vote. The turnout was a slight improvement on the previous two elections, but still slightly lower than what would have been expected during the 1980s. The number of seats being contested was 120, an increase of 21 from the previous election, but as 55 of the new seats were for list candidates, the number of electorates was reduced considerably and many electorates had their boundaries amended or were abolished. While the number of general electorates decreased from 95 (1993) to 60 (1996), the number of Māori electorates increased from 4 to 5.

In the election 842 candidates stood, and there were 21 registered parties with party lists. Of the candidates, 459 were electorate and list, 152 were electorate only, and 231 were list only. 73% of candidates (616) were male and 27% (226) female.The Baubles of Office: The New Zealand General Election of 2005 p87, edited by Stephen Levine & Nigel S Roberts (2007, Victoria University Press, Wellington) New Zealand Votes: The General Election of 2002 p22 edited by Jonathan Boston, Stephen Church, Stephen Levine, Elizabeth McLeay & Nigel S. Roberts (2003, Victoria University Press, Wellington)

Results The 1996 election eventually saw a victory for the governing National Party, which won around a third of the vote. The opposition Labour Party won slightly less. The election, however, was not decided by the comparative strengths of the major parties – rather, the smaller New Zealand First party, which won 17 seats, including 5 Māori seats won by the Tight Five, and was placed in the position of "kingmaker", able to provide the necessary majority to whichever side it chose. Although predicted by many to ally with Labour, on 10 December 1996 New Zealand First leader Winston Peters chose to form a coalition with National, thus preserving Prime Minister Jim Bolger's administration.

The 1996 election effectively showcased the difference made by the new electoral system. The Alliance and New Zealand First, both of which held two seats each in the old parliament, increased their representation to 13 and 17 seats, respectively, as a result of the change. The new ACT New Zealand also benefited, taking eight seats. The new United New Zealand party however was virtually wiped out, retaining only a single seat. The Conservative Party also only established only in previous Parliament by defecting Members of Parliament fared even worse, failing to remain in parliament at all. Strategic voting took place for the first time in a New Zealand MMP election in the Wellington seats of Ohariu-Belmont and Wellington Central.

However, Labour did manage to retain its status as among the top-two parties, as polls in the 1993–1996 period had shown Labour was in danger of being overtaken by the Alliance or New Zealand First. Labour's success was credited largely to its leader Helen Clark being seen as having convincingly won the election debates and running a strong campaign on health, education and social services, while Bolger was said to have run a lackluster campaign.The 1996 General Election in New Zealand: Proportional Representation and Political Change, edited by Jonathan Boston, Stephen Levine, Elizabeth McLeay and Nigel S. Roberts (1997, Australian Institute of Policy and Science, Australia)

Also notable in the 1996 election campaign was the Christian Coalition, an alliance of the Christian Democrats and the Christian Heritage Party. Although the party had briefly crossed the 5% threshold in some polls, it gained only 4.33% at the election, and therefore did not qualify for parliamentary representation. With the exception of the Maori Ratana movement, this is the closest that an overtly religious party has come to winning representation in parliament.

Voters were prepared with MMP to vote for minor party candidates with their electorate vote, hence in a number of electorates won by National or Labour the other major party candidate came third or even fourth; previously the two top polling candidates were almost always National and Labour.

Detailed results

| 701,315 | 33.84 | 699,073 | 33.91 | 1.14 | 14 | 30 | 44 | 6

| 584,159 | 28.19 | 640,884 | 31.08 | 3.60 | 11 | 26 | 37 | 8

| 276,603 | 13.35 | 278,103 | 13.49 | 5.09 | 11 | 6 | 17 | 15

| 209,347 | 10.10 | 231,944 | 11.25 | 6.96 | 12 | 1 | 13 | 11

| 126,442 | 6.10 | 77,319 | 3.75 | new | 7 | 1 | 8 | new

| 18,245 | 0.88 | 42,666 | 2.07 | new | 0 | 1 | 1 | new

| 89,716 | 4.33 | 31,995 | 1.55 | 0.47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0

| 34,398 | 1.66 | 3,420 | 0.17 | new | 0 | 0 | 0 | new

| 5,990 | 0.29 | 12,177 | 0.59 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0

| 5,288 | 0.26 | 7,437 | 0.36 | new | 0 | 0 | 0 | new

| 4,070 | 0.20 | 4,763 | 0.23 | 0.06 | 0

1996 New Zealand general election

Bron en licentie