The New Zealand Parliament was established in 1854 and is one of the oldest continuously functioning legislatures in the world. The House of Representatives normally consists of 120 members, though sometimes more due to overhang seats. There are 72 MPs elected directly in electorates while the remainder of seats are assigned to list MPs based on each party’s share of the total party vote. The current system of representation is based on the Westminster system of parliamentary representation, developed in the United Kingdom.
About New Zealand Parliament in brief
The New Zealand Parliament was established in 1854 and is one of the oldest continuously functioning legislatures in the world. It has met in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, since 1865. The House of Representatives normally consists of 120 members, though sometimes more due to overhang seats. There are 72 MPs elected directly in electorates while the remainder of seats are assigned to list MPs based on each party’s share of the total party vote. Neither the monarch nor her governor-general participates in the legislative process, save for signifying the Queen’s approval to a bill passed by the House. The New Zealand Government comprises a prime minister and other ministers, and are held accountable to it. In 2002, the number of Māori seats increased to seven, which gave greater representation to rural politics. The country quota was in effect until 1945, when it was abolished by a mostly urban-elected government, which switched to a one-person-per-person voting system. The current system of representation is based on the Westminster system of parliamentary representation, developed in the United Kingdom, which can be traced back to the Model Parliament of 1295. The Bill of Rights 1688 ) established Parliament’s role in law-making, taxation, and supply. Among its provisions, the Bill confirmed absolute freedom of speech in Parliament. New Zealand was never a federation comparable to Canada or Australia; Parliament could legislate concurrently with the provinces on any matter, and in the event of a conflict, the law passed by Parliament would prevail.
The first members were sworn in on 24 May 1854 in Auckland. The members of the House were elected under the first-past-the-post voting system, while those of the Legislative Council were appointed by the governor. The Council sat for the last time on 1 December 1950, before it was formally abolished on 1 January 1951. At the time of its abolition, the upper house had fifty-four members, including its own speaker. Under the Constitution Act, legislative power was also conferred on New Zealand’s provinces, each of which had its own elected provincial council. In 1876, the provinces were abolished altogether in 1876. Māoris were represented in Parliament from 1867 and in 1893 women gained the vote. Although elections can be called early, each three years Parliament is dissolved and goes up for reelection. In 1945, the country quota was abolished in effect, which was largely due to a main-party split in the Labour government. The number of seats was weighted according to their urban-rural proportions, which had a maximum of 28% extra representation – having a maximum factor of 14,838 votes to its actual number of actual voters. In 2003, the quota was abolished and the country was split according to the main party split, which led to a greater number of nominal votes than they actually contained – as an example in 1927, Waipawa received an additional 4,153 votes to actual votes to win a seat in the New Zealand parliament.
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This page is based on the article New Zealand Parliament published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 29, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
