“The right of election is the very essence of the constitution”
Junius
“Probably no political institution shapes the political landscape of a democratic country more than its electoral system…”
R.A. Dahl
This dissertation aims to examine the role of electoral reform on increasing levels of democracy, looking at New Zealand as a specific example.
In the course of this work a number of issues will be addressed, specifically these are; the definition of democracy under discussion, the measurement of the political culture of a country, the current electoral system in New Zealand, statistical evidence demonstrating if any increase in democracy has occurred as a result of electoral reform, the prospect of further reforms being introduced and finally why New Zealand is a relevant example from which lessons could be learnt that would be helpful in guiding any prospective changes to the British electoral system.
However, the first question that should be answered is, why New Zealand? Politically, New Zealand is a very interesting proposition, having a strong tradition of democracy. Universal suffrage was achieved in New Zealand in 1893 giving them a twenty-five year head start over Britain in terms of representation. In addition to this New Zealand has a relatively high level of voter participation, the lowest turnout at a general election since 1940 was around 70%, a figure that although regarded as low by New Zealand standards is quite high when compared internationally. It also has contemporary relevance, as recent developments regarding electoral reform make it a perfect case from which lessons that would be relevant to reform in Britain can be learnt.
New Zealand is also worthy of note in terms of geography and demography. The obvious point of interest geographically is the North/South divide which, although commonly representative of political difference in many countries, is a literal divide in New Zealand and does have an impact on the political make-up of he country. Demographically, the most important feature is the Maori, the New Zealand indigenous population. Maori play an important electoral role in New Zealand, having an impact on the composition of Parliament before any voting actually occurs. Both of these points will be discussed in greater depth below.
The second question that must be addressed is why democracy and electoral reform? Democracy is the root of Western civilisation and it is often in terms of democracy that a country is judged, the more ‘democratic’ a country appears to be, the more value is placed upon it, affecting its stature internationally. In the Western world, it is recognised that the electoral system is at the heart of determining that democracy. It is inevitable therefore, that changes in the electoral system, affect a nation’s democracy, mainly in terms of how representative of the electors the government is and how willing to participate the electors are, as the greater the level of participation, the greater the legitimacy afforded to the system. As a result of this, the first issue to be addressed is that of democracy, what it means and how it has developed.