NZ business favours first-past-the-post

Business owners in New Zealand believe that the first-past-the-post voting system would have the most positive impact on the economy, according to the latest research from Grant Thornton’s International Business Report (IBR).

Fifty-four percent of those surveyed favoured this form of voting system compared with 18% for Mixed Member Proportional representation, 8% for Single Transferable Vote and 4% for Preferential Vote. Ten per cent said they were not concerned by the voting system.

Peter Sherwin, Partner Grant Thornton New Zealand, based in Wellington, said that the findings of the survey were reinforced by comments made by clients on the subject.

“I have discussed this survey with several clients and they were quite unified in their comments and observations. When MMP was first introduced, it was decided that there needed to be an increase in the number of members of Parliament to ensure that MMP worked.

“Unfortunately, the consensus among those that I talked with and other observations indicates that the increase in the number of politicians has not seen a lift in quality. In fact, there is a group of politicians who sit in parliament who are hardly seen. There is also concern, that because of the list system, members get into Parliament who have never had to go through an election.

“And then there are those that come in on the list and midway through a term they change parties,” he said.

Sherwin said that one of the biggest concerns amongst the small to medium sized business owners was the lack of business background and knowledge amongst MPs.

“There are a number of MPs who do not have any business experience, especially those who have spent a life time in employment and have no understanding of the pressures business owners face in operating their business and maintaining employment in this challenging economic environment.

Thankfully we have a business-friendly government otherwise some business owners believe they may have gone to the wall.”

Sherwin said that a suggestion that came through strongly was that the 5% threshold for list votes was too low.

“There is a belief that this should be up to 10% as a way of possibly limiting the number of inexperienced people who make their way into parliament. The same for parties that might win a seat. For them to be able to bring more people into parliament, they should also need to capture up to 10% of vote as well,” he said.

For further information please contact:

Peter Sherwin
Partner, Grant Thornton New Zealand
T +64 (0)4 495 3777
M +64 (0)21 638 522
E peter.sherwin@nz.gt.com