District councillors were presented with two options last week – retain first past the post or adopt the single transferable voting system. Due to statutory requirements, the decision had to be made before yesterday.
The recommendation to adopt STV was lost by four votes to six, with deputy mayor Malcolm Lyall absent.
The district council will now notify the public about the decision by Tuesday. Residents can then give feedback. If 5 per cent of the district’s 79,280 voters petition the council to adopt STV instead, a referendum could be held.
Currently 15 councils across New Zealand use STV. But Christchurch City Council and Waimakariri District Council both recently voted to keep FPP.
Mayor Sam Broughton and district councillors Shane Epiha, Sophie McInnes, and Phil Dean voted yes to STV.
Broughton said he supported the change as it would provide a more balanced election.
“Sometimes the question becomes about whether should we change or not, rather than what is the outcome of the decision.
“When there are multiple people being elected in the ward, there’s even more reason to move this system. I get that change is difficult and hard but I think that having an outcome that is more representative is more important for democracy and support a ranked voting system,” Broughton said.
McInnes said SVT would increase the number of people standing for election.
“When you know it’s first past the post and you’re against incumbents, you’re less likely to put your name forward, especially if you’re female or from a minority, because it’s harder to beat an incumbent on that count,” she said.
District councillors Lydia Gliddon, Nicole Reid, Grant Miller, Bob Mugford, and Debra Hasson voted against adopting STV. A STV election would cost about 25 per cent more than FPP.
Gliddon believed it was not the right time to change the voting system.
“I feel like the only reason we are looking at changing is to follow the Future for Local Government Review . . . I just think now isn’t the right time to change,” she said.
Miller said the question should have been put out for feedback.
“We haven’t even asked our electorate ourselves, the danger of the council making decisions unilaterally, without at least some sort of information gathering from our community, is poor.”
How the voting system works
- What is first past the post?
The candidate with the most votes wins. This is a simple method of electing candidates and is widely used throughout the world.
- What is single transferable voting?
Voters rank candidates in their order of preference. Under STV, you would write “1” next to the name of your favourite candidate, “2” next to your second favourite candidate and so on. Candidates must reach a set number (quota) of votes in order to be elected. Your votes may be transferred according to alternate preferences if your preferred candidate is eliminated or elected with surplus votes. This means your vote is used to elect someone you prefer over others in the running.
