Single Transferable Vote (STV) is a preferential system in which each electorate is represented by a number of Members of Parliament, as in PV there is a threshold, if a candidate receives more votes than the threshold requires that candidate is elected and the surplus votes are redistributed in line with the voters second or higher preferences, if no candidates are above the threshold then the lowest polling candidates are removed and votes redistributed until a candidate is above the threshold. This process continues until all the candidates are elected (at this point any remaining votes will not be sufficient to defeat any of the other candidates if the droop quota is used to determine the threshold)
1996
The electors of Hamilton East were intrigued by the concept of proportional voting but were unwilling to give political parties the ability to determine party lists, they instead selected the STV system which promised proportional representation without party lists, even though it seemed complicated they were sure that they could figure it out.
The first election under STV certainly delivered greater diversity in Parliament, there was however an unexpectedly long period of negotiation before National was able to form a government New Zealand First.
1999
Problems arose in the coalition government after National selected a new leader, however National was able to remain in power with the support of some New Zealand First Mp’s along with ACT, United and Christian Coalition parties.
In 1999 Labour managed to increase its share of the vote dramatically and with their allies in the Alliance and the Greens and the remnant of New Zealand First were able to take over the government.
2002
This to proved to be an unruly coalition with the Alliance party coming apart under the pressure of government and increasing tensions between the Greens and the Labour party.
The Alliances problems saw them ejected from parliament, however Labour was able to retain the control of government with the support of United Future and New Zealand First.
2005
The past three years had seen stable government, National had however finally managed to regain some of their previous support and were now able to seriously challenge Labour.
The government again came down to negotiation, however this time New Zealand First had made a pledge not to go into government with the Greens and so they defected from their Labour allies and sided with national to form a new government, hoping this would last longer than their previous attempt.
2008
The 2008 election saw National gain support at the expense of their ally, they were now able to govern alone and could implement their policies without giving thought to any other party.
Table of Results
Summary
Although STV comes very close to proportional results there are a few interesting results to note. Firstly Labour’s vote dropped from 2002 to 2005 yet their share of seats increased, also in 1996 United won a seat while the legalise cannabis party did not despite the ALCP winning 1.17% of the vote, this is because United Voters were more concentrated in Chartwell and the political positioning of United in between Labour and National meant that National voters supported United in order to keep Labour from winning an extra seat.
