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Overview of electionsVoting
Elections always take place on a Saturday, so as to minimise work-commitments inhibiting people from voting. Voting (the casting of ballots) happens at various polling stations, generally established in schools, churches, or other such public places. The 2005 election made use of 6,094 such polling stations. The voting process uses printed voting ballots, with voters marking their choices (one vote for a candidate and one vote for a party — see Electoral system of New Zealand) with an ink pen provided for their use. The voter then places the voting paper in a sealed ballot box. Voters can alternatively cast "special votes" if genuinely unable to attend a regular polling place (for example, if they have travelled overseas, or have impaired mobility). Timing of electionsNew Zealand elections generally occur every three years. Unlike many other countries, New Zealand has no fixed election date, but rather the timing of elections is determined by the Prime Minister. Convention dictates that an election should be held roughly three years after the previous election unless there is a major crisis or the Prime Minister loses the ability to command a majority in parliament. In the 1930s and 1940s two elections were delayed due to the Great Depression and World War II, respectively. These were the 1935 and 1943 elections, which would normally have been held in 1934 and 1941.
The Prime Minister's power to determine the election date can give the government more subtle advantages. For example, if they believe that a section of the population will either vote against them or not at all, they might hold the election in early spring, when the weather is likely to keep less committed voters away from the polls. The timing of important rugby matches is also taken into account, partly because a major match the same weekend of the election is likely to lower voting levels, and partly because it is widely believed that governments benefit when the All Blacks (the New Zealand national rugby team) win and suffer when they lose. Tradition associates elections with November - give or take a few weeks. After disruptions to the 36-month cycle, Prime Ministers tend to strive to restore it to a November base. Barring crises, the next general election should occur before Saturday 15 November 2008. Electoral rollThe electoral roll consists of a register of all eligible voters, organised alphabetically by surname within electorates. All persons who meet the requirements for voting must by law register on the electoral roll, even if they do not intend to vote. The roll records the name and address of all voters, although one can apply for "unpublished" status on the roll in special circumstances, such as when having one's details printed in the electoral roll could threaten one's personal safety. ElectoratesNew Zealanders refer to voting districts as "electorates", or as "seats". New Zealand currently has sixty-nine electorates (including seven Māori electorates specially set up for people of Māori ethnicity or ancestry who choose to place themselves on a separate electoral roll). All electorates have roughly the same number of people in them — the Representation Commission periodically reviews and alters electorate boundaries to preserve this approximate balance. The number of people per electorate depends on the population of the South Island — this is the less populous of the country's two main islands and has sixteen guaranteed electorates, so the number of people per electorate equals the population of the South Island divided by sixteen. From this, the Commission determines the number of North Island and Māori seats, which may fluctuate accordingly. The electorate seats are supplemented by fifty-one "list seats". These are filled from lists composed by political parties, and are used to make a party's share of seats in parliament reflect its share of the party vote. For example, if a party wins 20% of the party vote, but only ten electorate seats, it will be given fourteen list seats so that it has 20% of the 120 seats in parliament. (For further explanation see Electoral system of New Zealand.) Vote-counting and announcementPolling places close at 7.00pm on election day. The process of the counting of the votes by polling officials then begins. Results (at this stage provisional ones) go to a central office in the capital, Wellington, for announcement as they arrive. In recent years, a dedicated official website, "www.electionresults.govt.nz" has provided live election-result updates. Electoral officers generally complete the provisional counting of ordinary votes on the night of the election, but counting of special votes (see "Voting") can take longer, occasionally producing surprise upsets. The final results of the election become official when confirmed by the Chief Electoral Officer. History of voting in New Zealand
The first national elections in New Zealand took place in 1853, the year after the British government passed the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852. Of note is that New Zealand claims to have become the first country in the world to have granted women's suffrage, although the accuracy of this claim depends on the definitions used (see Women's suffrage). Results
General electionsThe following table lists all previous general elections in New Zealand (note that elections for Māori seats initially took place at different times from elections for general seats). The table displays the dates of the elections, the officially recorded voter turnout, and the number of seats in Parliament at the time. On the right the table shows the number of seats won by the four most significant parties in New Zealand's history (the Liberal Party and the Reform Party, which later merged to form the National Party, and the Labour Party), as well as the number won by other candidates (either independents or members of smaller political parties). * The United Party (a regrouping of the Liberals) and the Reform Party contested the 1931 and 1935 elections as a coalition, but did not formally merge as the National Party until 1936. By-elections
See also
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