General Information
At stake in this referendum:
- Popular support for the government's plan to partially privatize five major government-owned companies (Meridian Energy, Mighty River Energy, Genesis Power, Solid Energy and Air New Zealand).
Description of government structure:
- Chief of State: Queen ELIZABETH II[1]
- Head of Government: Prime Minister John KEY
- Assembly: New Zealand has a unicameral House of Representatives with 120 seats.
Description of electoral system:
- The Queen is hereditary.
- The Prime Minister is appointed by the governor-general.[2]
- In the House of Representatives, 70 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 3-year terms and 50 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 3-year terms.[3]
Provision of the referendum:
- Do you support the Government selling up to 49% of Meridian Energy, Mighty River Energy, Genesis Power, Solid Energy and Air New Zealand?
Population and registered voters:
- Population: 4,442,100 (2013)
- Registered Voters: 3,030,707 (2013)
Gender Data:
· Female Population: 2,267,363 (2013)
· Is New Zealand a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)
· Has New Zealand ratified CEDAW: Yes (10 January 1985)
· Gender Quota: No
· Female candidates in this election: Yes
· Number of Female Parliamentarians: 39 (following the 2011 elections)
· Human Development Index Position: 9 (2014)
· Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A
Disability Data:
· Is New Zealand a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)
· Has New Zealand ratified CRPD: Yes (25 September 2008)
· Population with a disability: 666,315 (est.)
[1] The Queen is represented by Governor General Sir Jeremiah "Jerry" MATEPARAE (since 31 August 2011).
[2] The leader of the majority party or the leader of a majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister.
[3] The electoral system is MMP. The voter has two votes: one for a party, one for the respective single-member constituency. Seven constituencies are reserved to the Maori people. Once constituency seats are filled, PR list seats are allocated to each party until its overall seat share is proportional to its share of party votes. Parties must clear a national threshold of 5 percent or win at least one constituency seat in order to qualify for seats in the ordinal tier. If a party wins more seats in the nominal tier than it would have been entitled to based on its share of ordinal tier votes, it keeps these seats, known as "overhang."