Applications: The Mathematics of Electoral District Allocation in New Zealand

This paper outlines the implicit conceptual basis of New Zealand’s electoral district allocation, as embodied in the Electoral Act 1993. It puts the words of the Act into simple mathematical formulae and describes how these concepts are implemented in the Government Statistician’s electoral calculat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Australian & New Zealand journal of statistics 2002-09, Vol.44 (3), p.267-276
Main Authors: Westbrooke, Ian, Ryan, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
electoral allocation
electoral districts
Māori Option
voting systems
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This paper outlines the implicit conceptual basis of New Zealand’s electoral district allocation, as embodied in the Electoral Act 1993. It puts the words of the Act into simple mathematical formulae and describes how these concepts are implemented in the Government Statistician’s electoral calculations, with examples from the 1997 calculations. The paper shows how the Māori Option affects the number of Māori electoral districts, and describes an unexpected effect of the Option on the number of General electoral districts.
ISSN:1369-1473
1467-842X
DOI:10.1111/1467-842X.00229