MMP: Is it a problem? 23 June 2026
Grant Duncan’s Politics Happens substack post wonders whether there is a problem with MMP.
Yes there is. There is an easily fixed design flaw which has dogged MMP since the beginning. The party vote tries to do two things at once. First to decide which parties qualify for seats, and second to decide how many seats each qualifying party wins.
In most aspets of life, if we want people to have a choice, but be sure each person can be involved, we offer a second choice.
If the restaurant does not have that special dish you like, they don’t send you away hungry, they offer a second choice.
MMP sends home hungry (by wasting their vote) anyone who supports a new party. To fix this in MMP we should offer a second choice of party vote.
The latest MMP review from 2024 was onto it. Here is a quote
4.34 Some submitters advocated strongly for second-choice voting to be introduced for the party vote (that is, an optional “back up” vote for another party if your first choice vote did not pass the threshold), whether the threshold is lowered or not. They …. noted it may improve voter participation rates, support sincere voting rather than tactical voting, reduce the proportion of votes that go to parties that cross neither threshold, reduce barriers for small and newly established parties, and only require a simple change to the ballot paper.
Read more about it here at http://www.ott.nz
Two-choice party voting or The Spare Vote 