October 21, 2009 11:00am by David Farrar

Reforming MMP

Labour MP David Parker welcomed the referendum, but said it should include reforming MMP itself as one of the options.

I’m not sure whether one does it as part of a the referenda, or seperately, but agree it would be good to review some aspects of MMP.

What do readers think are some of the changes that could improve MMP. Here are some of the options (note this does not mean I support them)

Reduce threshold for list seats from 5% to 4% (as recommended by Royal Cmsn), or lower
Remove threshold all together (means effectively around 0.8% gets you an MP)
Increase electorate seat threshold for list seats from one electorate to two (or more)
Remove winning an electorate seat as a way to qualify for list seats
Waive the 5% threshold for “tangata whenua” parties and abolish the Maori seats (as recommended by Royal Cmsn)
Increase the number of electorate seats from 70, and reduce the number of list seats form 50
Set Parliament to have 60 electorate seats and 60 list seats
Set Parliament to have an equal number of electorate and list seats (so size of Parliament will rise over time is the number of electorates increases due to faster population growth in the North Island)
Ban dual candidacy so you can stand either in an electorate or on a list (note personally I think this is unworkable)
term limits for MPs
have “open” lists for parties so voters can change the order

Other suggestions welcome, plus views on the above.