Diversity in third place in local government race

"The 2010 local elections have stifled minority voices in many Councils," says Campaign for MMP spokeswoman Sandra Grey.

First-Past-the-Post is used for most council elections. Sandra Grey says this is why many of them are all Pakeha, and why Maori, Pacific Islanders and other minorities often lack any voice in local authority decision making.

She points out that MMP - a proportional voting system - has produced a Parliament in which many communities have a voice.

"The introduction of MMP gave us a Parliament with fair representation of Maori and a voice for other communities such as Pasifika and Asian. This has given those communities a greater stake in New Zealand. It is proportional representation in practice," she said.

“It’s time we challenged the continued use of non-proportional voting systems for Local Government elections” said Sandra Grey.

ENDS

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