Politics of New Zealand

The politics of New Zealand 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. 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. The 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. The country ranks highly for government transparency and had the second lowest perceived level of corruption in the world in 2022.

Legal framework

New Zealand is a unitary parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy. 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. 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. 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).

Legislature

Parliament is responsible for passing laws, adopting the annual Budget, and exercising control of the executive government. It currently has a single chamber, the House of Representatives. Before 1951 there was a second chamber, the Legislative Council. The House of Representatives meets in Parliament House, Wellington.

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).

The lawmakers are called members of Parliament, or MPs. Parliament is elected for a maximum term of three years, although an election may be called earlier in exceptional circumstances. Suffrage is nearly universal for permanent residents eighteen years of age and older, women having gained the vote in . 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.

Elections

Almost all parliamentary elections between and were held under the first past the post (FPP) electoral system. 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 and elections when a second-ballot system was used; the second-ballot legislation was repealed in 1913. The elections since 1935 have been dominated by two political parties, National and Labour.

Public criticism of the FPP system began in the 1950s and intensified after Labour lost elections in and despite having more overall votes than National. An indicative (non-binding) referendum to change the voting system was held in 1992, which led to a binding referendum during the . As a result, New Zealand has used the mixed-member proportional (MMP) system since 1996. 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. Parliament normally has 120 seats, though some elections have resulted in overhang, as is currently the case (). In the first eight elections under MMP, from 1996 to , no party won a majority of seats.

Seven electorates are reserved for MPs elected on a separate Māori roll. In 1967, the law was changed to allow Māori to stand for election in the general (non-reserved) electorates, resulting in many Māori entering Parliament outside of the reserved seats. Since 1975, all Māori have had the option to enrol to vote in either the reserved Māori electorates or general electorates.

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. 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 agree with other parties to pass laws. 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.

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). Labour has generally positioned itself as centre-left in New Zealand politics, and has featured socialist (historically) and social-democratic principles in its platform and legislation, while National has generally positioned itself as centre-right, and has liberal and conservative tendencies. Other smaller parties represented in Parliament, following the , are the ACT Party (right-wing, classical-liberal and conservative), the Green Party (left-wing, green politics), New Zealand First (right-wing, populist and nationalist), and Te Pāti Māori (left-wing, Māori rights-based).

Parties must register with the Electoral Commission in order to contest the party vote in an election.

The table below summarises the results of the latest general election.

Party funding

In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of political party funding as a public policy concern. To address this, specific regulations have been implemented to set limits on foreign donations, ensuring that they do not exceed NZ$50 and placing restrictions on anonymous donations, which are limited to a maximum of NZ$1,500. These limitations aim to promote transparency and accountability in the political process by curbing the potential influence of foreign and anonymous contributions.

Executive Government

King Charles III is New Zealand's sovereign and head of state. The New Zealand monarchy has been legally distinct from the British monarchy following the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1947, and all Charles III's official business in New Zealand is conducted in the name of the "King of New Zealand". The King's role is largely ceremonial, and his residual powers—called collectively the "royal prerogative"—are mostly exercised through the government of the day. These include the power to enact legislation, to sign treaties and to declare war.

Since the King is not usually resident in New Zealand, the functions of the sovereign are delegated to their representative, the governor-general. , the incumbent Governor-General is Dame Cindy Kiro. A governor-general formally has the power to appoint and dismiss ministers and to dissolve Parliament; and the power to reject or sign bills into law by royal assent after passage by the House of Representatives. The governor-general chairs the Executive Council, which is a formal committee consisting of all ministers, who advise the governor-general on the exercising of the prerogative powers. Members of the Executive Council are required to be members of Parliament (MPs), and most are also in the Cabinet.

Cabinet is the senior decision-making body in Government, led by the prime minister (currently Christopher Luxon), who is also, by convention, the parliamentary leader of the largest governing party. The prime minister, being the de facto leader of New Zealand, exercises executive functions that are formally vested in the sovereign (by way of the prerogative powers). Ministers within Cabinet make major decisions collectively and are therefore collectively responsible for the consequences of these decisions.

For a government to be formed, typically following a general election, it must be able to command the support of the majority of MPs in the House of Representatives. This entails having their confidence and the ability to pass supply bills. While it is rare for a single party to have an outright majority, coalitions may be formed between parties; even if a single party or coalition lacks a majority, it can form a Cabinet with agreed confidence and supply from minor parties. After a government is formed, it also requires practical support from a majority for government bills to be enacted. Parties in government are said to have a "mandate" from voters and authority to implement manifestos (although this view has been criticised as being simplistic when applied to coalition arrangements). The National Party won the largest number of seats in the 2023 general election and, following negotiations, formed a majority three-party coalition government with the ACT and NZ First parties.

, the Labour Party has formed the Official Opposition to the National–ACT–NZ First Government. The leader of the Opposition heads a Shadow Cabinet, which scrutinises the actions of the Cabinet led by the prime minister. The Opposition within Parliament helps to hold the Government to account through parliamentary questions, non-government bills, and the possibility of no-confidence motions.

Judiciary

The New Zealand judiciary has four basic levels of courts: The Supreme Court; the Court of Appeal; the High Court; and the District Court (including the Youth Court).

Politics of New Zealand

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