16
submitted 1 day ago by Mr_Fish to c/politics

The election results this year are bad. Even if you voted for the national coalition, I think you should be angry about this year's results because they go against the point of MMP. I have two ideas of how to fix overhangs and make sure the government is always proportional, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

Idea 1, the simpler solution: Just add more list seats. Fill up all the electorate seats, then add list MPs until there are at least the base number of seats, and adding another seat would make it less proportional. Pros: It's simple, intuitive, and makes more sense than allowing overhangs. Cons: There could be a lot of MPs in the house.

Idea 2, STV + MMP: This idea uses STV or some other ranked system to elect the electorate MPs, which would be better than the FPTP we use for them now. But in this case, if an overhang happens, the overhang seat with the thinnest majority would be recalculated with the previous winner's votes transferred. Pros: it works in a better system for the electorates, and it makes for a consistent size of parliament. Cons: It's slightly more confusing for the voters, and calculating the seats could take much longer.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Kraiden@piefed.social 2 points 6 hours ago

I have no idea to be honest.

I had a friend suggest treating the Māori roll separately. For this election that does make the numbers a little more sane (still quite a large parliament, but we potentially wouldn't need a new building lol) but that has all sorts of potential to screw over Māori voters, and I wouldn't trust any solution that tried to separate the two rolls for scaling.

I'm busy reading about STV, and that has problems too. It's better than FPTP but it does still have a tendency to favour larger parties, and isn't great in terms of proportional representation. I'm not sure how Op's idea of MMP+STV would work, but it would probably be better than what we have now? I think?

The more I think about it, the more I realise why Germany just said fuck it. Win enough of the party vote to get your electorate seats, or lose em. It's definitely simpler.

I'm honestly just glad this isn't going to fall to me to figure out.

[-] Dave 2 points 6 hours ago

I’m not sure how Op’s idea of MMP+STV would work, but it would probably be better than what we have now? I think?

It kinda sounds like the candidate with the most votes may not be elected for the electorate based on something outside of their control?

The more I think about it, the more I realise why Germany just said fuck it. Win enough of the party vote to get your electorate seats, or lose em. It’s definitely simpler.

Yeah it's not a bad idea. I think maybe we could have a threshold. Like your first overhang seat is free but after that you need the votes. That would make it much harder to manipulate, and the effects of manipulation would be capped.

I’m honestly just glad this isn’t going to fall to me to figure out.

Yeah, maybe when we do reviews that produce recommendations perhaps we enact those recommendations? 😂 who am I kidding

this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2026
16 points (100.0% liked)

NZ Politics

923 readers
43 users here now

Kia ora and welcome to the NZ Politics community!

This is a place for respectful discussions about everything that's political and kiwi

This is an inclusive space where diverse opinions are valued, but please don't be a dick

Other LemmyNZ communities here

 

Banner image by Tom Ackroyd, CC-BY-SA

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS