PNG officials to observe polling in New Zealand

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Friday 25th November 2011

TWO officers from the Electoral Commission of Papua New Guinea will travel to New Zealand this weekend to observe its general election and referendum.
New Zealanders will go to the polls tomorrow.
PNG Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen announced the visit to New Zealand by Francis Dakeni and Kamate Onne on Wednesday.
While details were sketchy last night, it is understood that Dakeni and Onne will join other observers from around the Commonwealth.
Trawen said of particular interest was the referendum in which New Zealanders, while casting their votes, would also have their say on the voting system to be used in electing their parliament in future.
“Currently, New Zealand is using the mixed member proportional (MMP) system.
“On Saturday, voters will decide whether to keep MMP or bring in either the “first-past-the-post”, “preferential voting”, “single transferable vote” or the “supplementary member” systems.
Postal voting for New Zealanders living abroad started last week.
Under the referendum rule, if at least half the voters opted to keep MMP, an
independent review of the system would be conducted next year to recommend workable changes.
The review “must include a number of matters that have been decided by parliament including the thresholds parties must meet to be eligible for a share of list seats, whether voters should be able to change the order of candidates on a party list and whether candidates can stand in both an electorate and on the party list”.
According to Trawen, if a majority of the voters opt for a change, “parliament will decide if there will be another referendum in 2014 to choose between MMP and the alternative voting system that gets the most support”.