Steve Withers and the Real Deal of Living and Loving MMP

For the past 11 years, I've lived under the MMP system used in New Zealand since 1996.

The propaganda about list MPs is fanciful and lots of fun, but disonnected from reality. Here is the reality of MMP in the town where I live.

I live in the Otaki riding, at the north end of the Wellington region at the lower end of the North Island. You can see it here:

http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/01623062-BFA7-4F0D-9314-0453FB298704/168/Otaki1.pdf

I live just north of Foxton, where I own a farm. The local MP is Darren Hughes (Labour Party). He has a riding office in Levin. Not far from Darren's office is the riding office of National Party list MP, Nathan Guy. You can see their local contact details here:

http://www.labour.org.nz/labour_team/mps/mps/darren_hughes/index.html
http://www.national.org.nz/MP.aspx?Id=60#ContactDetailsAnchor

Also serving Otaki is the Green Party list MP, Sue Kedgley. She is based in Wellington and covers the 10 ridings of the Wellington region for her party, which has 7 MPs out of the 120 in the Parliament.

The reality of MMP is that I have at least 3 "local" MPs I can call upon for any issue of concern to me. If the MP from one party isn't sympathetic to my view of the world or my values, I can go to another. This the BEST thing about the list MPs. They offer voters the chance to talk to an MP other than the local one if they aren't getting the hearing they feel they deserve. MMP provides stronger representation for this reason and I am very happy with it.

To be honest, I can't tell a list MP from a local MP unless you tell me someone is one or the other. They all work in their local communities, serving voters in the hoe of winning the all-important party votes that define how many seats each party gets overall.

If you look at all the list MPs for the parties with more than 5% of the vote, you'll see that almost without exception they all have local riding offices in the towns where they live. You will also note they are well distributed around the country. The links are below.

http://www.labour.org.nz/Our_mps_top/index.html
http://www.national.org.nz/MPList.aspx
http://www.nzfirst.org.nz/contact.php
http://www.greens.org.nz/people/mps.htm

As to who selects the list candidates prior to their election, it is, of course, the members of their party. I have taken part in democratically electing people to my party's list as candidates. This is better under MMP as I get to support not just one person for the local riding, but also several people from my region as our part of the national party list. EVERY party in New Zealand democratically elects candidates to their party list of candidates. If you want to help choose candidates, then join the party you prefer and get involved.

Just so you know, the same is true in Scotland and Wales, where MMP is also used. In Germany, democratic candidate selection procedures are prescribed by law, so the same applies there, too.

Of course, before we voted to bring in MMP in 1993, we heard all the same dire warning about "party bosses picking party hacks". Looking back, it's all a bit funny now as no party leader in his or her right mind would DARE to attempt such thing. MMP introduces "market forces" into politics and party members and voters no longer have to tolerate such nonsense from "party bosses". They have other choices. MMP gives voters both a vote that counts and more choice as to who to elect.

The reality was that it was under First Past the Post that party bosses REALLY held sway.....which is why they are so determined in their opposition to MMP here in Ontario. MMP will make them MORE accountable...and they don't like that and more than their NZ counterparts did in 1993 - or now, for that matter. Politicians don't like being accountable and will seek to avoid it under any system. MMP makes that harder to do.

I know his information conflicts head on with the - in my view - propaganda about MMP. I hope you feel the reality of it. You will not find any similarly credible information to support the "no" case. There just isn't any.

This is the daily reality of life under MMP. It really IS better. You DO get more choice. Election results ARE more fair...and with several MPs to call upon - list and local - you DO get better representation overall. All because you get a vote that actually counts toward representation and the List candidates are a key part of making that practical and possible.

I hope that you will consider the evidence and see that I can prove my case and that the "NO" folks can't offer you a single example to support their claims about MMP.....and they certainly can't demonstrate endemic, systemic problems. Not even close. The evidence just isn't there.

I know why the Citizens Assembly voted 94 to 8 in favour of MMP. They knew what I know from personal experience. Unfortunately, the Ontario government isn't sharing WHY the Citizens Assembly voted for MMP. If you did that, you would e much more likley to vote for it and they don't want that. So you aren't being told the "why".

Are you the sort of person who looks at the evidence before coming to a conclusion? I hope you are. There are too may of the other sort.

Thanks for you note.

Steve Withers