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New Zealand operates a parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, as it has done since becoming self-governing from Britain in 1852. Queen Elizabeth II remains as head of state, but government is lead by a Prime Minister, who oversees a parliament drawn from elected representatives. The current PM and leader of the Labour Party is Helen Clark.

The Queen’s representative in New Zealand is the Governor General (currently Anand Satyanand), who is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister and who in turn overseas the Executive Council, a formal committee made up of all ministers of the Crown (all are MPS and most are Cabinet Members).

Parliament comprises 120 democratically elected members (MPs), who can serve up to three years. Unlike its British counterpart, New Zealand’s parliament has only one chamber, the House of Representatives. There are eight parties in the current parliament: ACT New Zealand, Green Party, Labour Party, Maori Party, National Party, NZ First, Progressive, and United Future. Elections take place every three years, with the next due in November 2008.

But while the system of government has broadly remained the same, New Zealand’s voting system underwent a radical overhaul in 1993. The traditional first-past-the-post, Westminster-style voting process, which had been in place since 1852, was replaced by Mixed Member Proportional representation (MMP). The biggest recent development in New Zealand politics has been the establishment of the Maori Party in 2004. After a long-running dispute over whether or not the Maori have a legitimate claim to ownership of New Zealand’s foreshore and seabed (the fishing and development rights for which are potentially huge), Labour Party member Tariana Turia and Maori academic Pita Sharples formed the party in a bid to unite all Maori into a single political group.

In the general election of 2005, the Maori Party contested all seven of the Maori seats reserved in parliament, winning four. Whether the early political impetus of the party will continue remains to be seen, but it’s undoubtedly an exciting and potentially pivotal time in Maori and NZ-wide politics.



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In 2004, NZ law was hit by an equally dramatic change. After years of the New Zealand High Court referring legal appeals to the UK’s Privy Council (one of the highest courts in Britain), a Supreme Court was established in New Zealand.