Why attempt to fix something that ain't broke?
Earlier this month, National announced that it intended to seek a referendum on our electoral system. But it indicated it was not about to revert to First Past the Post, but if people want a change from MMP, the range of proportional representation (PR) electoral systems will be up for grabs - SM, STV, MMP etc. Problem is that most don't even understand MMP and so how would they understand Single Transferable Vote, (STV) or Supplementary Member (SM), a cross between MMP and FPP, or any other PR system without public education campaign?
Many interpret a referendum as a platform to decide whether to return to First Past the Post or not. That would be a mistake. In 1990, National got 69 percent of the seats with 48 percent of the vote, and in 1993, our last FPP election, The Alliance got 18.3% of the vote, but got the same amount of seats as NZ First: two. Had it been an MMP election The Alliance would have got 23 seats and NZ First 10 seats.
If you are reading this and prefer the FPP electoral system, why on earth would you want to support such a disproportionate system? Why fix something that ain't broke?