A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
 |
|---|
 New Zealand portal |
The politics of New Zealand (Māori: tōrangapū o Aotearoa) function within a framework of an independent, unitary, parliamentary democracy. The system of government is based on the Westminster system, and the legal system is modelled on the common law of England. New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy in which King Charles III is the sovereign and head of state, while his prime minister serves as the head of government.
The New Zealand Parliament holds legislative power and consists of the King and the House of Representatives. The King is represented by the governor-general when not present in the country himself. Members of Parliament (MPs) are each elected to the House of Representatives for a flexible term of office, with general elections held at least every three years using a mixed-member proportional (MMP) system. MPs usually belong to political parties. New Zealand has a multi-party system, though the dominant parties have historically been the Labour Party and the National Party (or its predecessors). Minority governments are common and typically dependent on confidence-and-supply agreements with other parties in the House of Representatives.
Executive power in New Zealand is based on the principle that while the King reigns, the Government rules.[1] Although an integral part of the process of government, the King and his governor-general remain politically neutral and are not personally involved in the everyday aspects of governing. The New Zealand Government exercises authority on behalf of and by the consent of the sovereign. Government is made up of ministers, who are selected from among MPs and accountable to Parliament. Most ministers are members of the Cabinet, which is the main decision-making body of the Government. It is headed by the prime minister, who is the most senior minister formally appointed by the governor-general. Other ministers are appointed by the governor-general on the advice of the head of government.
According to the V-Dem Democracy Indices New Zealand was the sixth-most electoral democratic country in the world in 2023.[2] The country ranks highly for government transparency and had the second lowest perceived level of corruption in the world in 2022.[3]
Legal framework
New Zealand is a unitary parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy.[4] It has no formal codified constitution; the constitutional framework consists of a mixture of various documents (including certain acts of the United Kingdom and New Zealand Parliaments), the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, and constitutional conventions.[5] The Constitution Act in 1852 established the system of government and these were later consolidated in 1986. Constitutional rights are protected under common law and are strengthened by the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and Human Rights Act 1993, although these are not entrenched and can be overturned by Parliament with a simple majority.[6] The Constitution Act 1986 describes the three branches of government in New Zealand: the executive (the Sovereign and the Executive Council), the legislature (Parliament) and the judiciary (Courts).[7]
Legislature
| Office | Name | Party | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| King | Charles III | 8 September 2022 | |
| Governor-General | Dame Cindy Kiro | 21 October 2021 | |
| Speaker of the House | Gerry Brownlee | National | 5 December 2023 |
| Leader of the House | Chris Bishop | National | 27 November 2023 |
Parliament is responsible for passing laws, adopting the annual Budget, and exercising control of the executive government.[8] It currently has a single chamber, the House of Representatives. Before 1951 there was a second chamber, the Legislative Council.[9] The House of Representatives meets in Parliament House, Wellington.[10]
.jpg)
Laws are first proposed to the House of Representatives as bills. They have to go through a process of approval by the House and governor-general before becoming acts of Parliament (i.e. statutory law).[11]
The lawmakers are called members of Parliament, or MPs.[12] Parliament is elected for a maximum term of three years, although an election may be called earlier in exceptional circumstances.[13] Suffrage is nearly universal for permanent residents eighteen years of age and older,[14] women having gained the vote in 1893.[15] As in many other parliamentary systems of government, the executive (called "the Government") is drawn from and is answerable to Parliament—for example, a successful motion of no confidence will force a government either to resign or to seek a parliamentary dissolution and an early general election.[16]
Elections
Almost all parliamentary elections between 1853 and 1996 were held under the first past the post (FPP) electoral system.[17] Under FPP the candidate in a given electorate (district) that received the most votes was elected to the House of Representatives. The only deviation from the FPP system during this time occurred in the 1908 and 1911 elections when a second-ballot system was used; the second-ballot legislation was repealed in 1913.[17] The elections since 1935 have been dominated by two political parties, National and Labour.[17]
Public criticism of the FPP system began in the 1950s and intensified after Labour lost elections in 1978 and 1981 despite having more overall votes than National.[18] An indicative (non-binding) referendum to change the voting system was held in 1992, which led to a binding referendum during the 1993 election.[18] As a result, New Zealand has used the mixed-member proportional (MMP) system since 1996.[19] Under MMP, each member of Parliament is either directly elected by voters in a single-member district via FPP or appointed from their party's list.[12] Parliament normally has 120 seats,[12] though some elections have resulted in overhang, as is currently the case (as of December 2023[update]).[20] In the first eight elections under MMP, from 1996 to 2017, no party won a majority of seats.[21]
Seven electorates are reserved for MPs elected on a separate Māori roll. However, Māori may choose to vote in and to run for the non-reserved electorates and for the party list (since 1996), and as a result many have now entered Parliament outside of the reserved seats.[22]
Party politics
The first organised political party in New Zealand was founded in 1891, and its main rival was founded in 1909—New Zealand had a de facto two-party system from that point until the adoption of MMP in 1996.[23] Since then New Zealand has been a multi-party system, with at least five parties elected in every general election since. By rarely producing an overall majority for one party, MMP also ensures that parties need to come to an agreement with other parties to pass laws.[24] In the late 1990s, a phenomenon called "waka-jumping" emerged as MPs increasingly switched their party allegiance while in Parliament, prompting the implementation of a 2001 law mandating the resignation of waka-jumping MPs; this legislation expired in 2005, but a renewed effort to prevent waka-jumping emerged with the passage of the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2018.[21]
Historically the two largest, and oldest, parties are the New Zealand Labour Party (formed in 1916) and the New Zealand National Party (formed in 1936).[23] Labour has generally positioned itself as centre-left in New Zealand politics,[25] and has featured socialist (historically) and social-democratic principles in its platform and legislation,[26] while National has generally positioned itself as centre-right,[25] and has liberal and conservative tendencies.[27] Other smaller parties represented in Parliament, following the October 2023 general election[update], are the ACT Party (right-wing, classical-liberal), the Green Party (left-wing, environmentalist), New Zealand First (populist and nationalist), and Te Pāti Māori (Māori rights-based).[28]
Parties must register with the Electoral Commission in order to contest the party vote in an election.[29]
The table below summarises the results of the latest general election.
| |||||||||||
| Party | Party vote | Electorate vote sum | Total seats |
+/- | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Of total (%) |
Change (pp) |
Seats | Votes | Of total (%) |
Change (pp) |
Seats | ||||
| National | 1,085,851 | 38.08 |  12.51
|
5 | 1,192,251 | 43.47 | 9.34
|
43 | 48 | 16
| |
| Labour | 767,540 | 26.92 |  23.09
|
17 | 855,963 | 31.21 | 16.86
|
17 | 34 | 31
| |
| Green | 330,907 | 11.61 | 3.75
|
12 | 226,575 | 8.26 | 2.52
|
3 | 15 | 5
| |
| ACT | 246,473 | 8.64 | 1.06
|
9 | 149,507 | 5.45 | 1.99
|
2 | 11 | 1
| |
| NZ First | 173,553 | 6.09 | 3.49
|
8 | 76,676 | 2.80 | 1.73
|
0 | 8 | 8
| |
| Te Pāti Māori | 87,844 | 3.08 | 1.92
|
0 | 106,584 | 3.89 | 1.73
|
6 | 6 | 4
| |
| Opportunities (TOP) | 63,344 | 2.22 | 0.72
|
0 | 27,975 | 1.02 | 0.13
|
0 | 0 | 
| |
| New Zealand Loyal | 34,478 | 1.20 | new | 0 | 32,240 | 1.18 | new | 0 | 0 | new | |
| NewZeal[a] | 16,126 | 0.56 | 0.28
|
0 | 3,585 | 0.13 | 0.11
|
0 | 0 |
| |
| Legalise Cannabis | 13,025 | 0.45 | 0.00
|
0 | 12,566 | 0.46 | 0.17
|
0 | 0 |
| |
| Freedoms NZ | 9,586 | 0.33 | 0.08
|
0 | 0 | 0 |
| ||||
| DemocracyNZ | 6,786 | 0.23 | new | 0 | 12,060 | 0.44 | new | 0 | 0 | new | |
| Animal Justice | 5,018 | 0.17 | new | 0 | 5,829 | 0.21 | new | 0 | 0 | new | |
| New Conservative | 4,532 | 0.15 | 1.32
|
0 | 3,167 | 0.12 | 1.64
|
0 | 0 |
| |
| Women's Rights | 2,513 | 0.08 | new | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | new | Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Politics_of_New_Zealand||||