Reflections on constitutional and other issues concerning our electoral system: The past and the future

This paper was initially presented at a conference to mark the retirement of Sir Ivor Richardson, President of the Court of Appeal in New Zealand. It reviews the decisions of the 1985-86 Royal Commission on the Electoral System in the light of more than five years of experience under the Mixed Member Proportional electoral system recommended by the Royal Commission, it canvasses a range of related topics; and it makes suggestions for possible changes to the voting system. The paper has been published in Political Science with the kind permission of the editor of the Victoria University of Wellington Law Review, in which it will also be published.