After the Lolly Scramble

Andy Loader continues his examination of MMP by turning to what happens after election day. He argues coalition negotiations can hand smaller parties significant influence over who forms the government and what policies emerge. His proposed solution is greater transparency before voters cast their ballots: require parties to declare in advance which other parties they would be prepared to negotiate with

Part 1 click here

Obviously after the pre-election lolly scramble we have the election and depending on how the candidates have been able to convince the voters, we get the election result.

It is at this time that we see one of the worst things about MMP as we know it.

The negotiations for coalitions; or effectively the second lolly scramble.

Under MMP, unless we get a majority government as happened in the 2020 election, the parties elected with the highest number of parliamentary seats begin negotiations with the minor parties to gain enough seats to have a majority in the house.

MMP’s critics argue that it gives too much power to smaller parties and to 'unelected' list MPs and despite claims that proportional representation would promote consensus, New Zealand's political scene remains highly adversarial. The mainstream media still tend to portray election campaigns as a two-horse race for power.

At this point we often see a minor party having the power to actually select which party will be able to form and lead a government.

In my opinion this is a ridiculous situation where a minor party that may have only received an extremely low level of votes can select the government of the day whilst also being able to hold their own lolly scramble in which they are able to chase the baubles of office or to get approvals for policies which have only been supported by a minimal number of voters.

Immediately after the election there is usually a period of uncertainty whilst we wait to find the official results and the final voting numbers including those of the special votes and during this period there is much speculation about the possible outcomes of coalition negotiations.

I believe that it would be much better and fairer for the voters if the parties in the election were required to make a binding declaration prior to the election of which other parties they may enter into negotiations with to form a government if in a position to do so.

By having to make such a binding declaration this gives the voters a better understanding of the possible outcomes of their voting choices, particularly in relation to how the policies of the possible coalition partners may integrate.

It also in my opinion reduces the chances of this process of negotiation being used to chase the baubles of office rather than to offer solutions to governance problems facing the electorate.

Source

• Andy Loader, MMP - After the Lolly Scramble, opinion supplied to eLocal.