Interactive Lesson

MMP & your two votes

How New Zealanders choose their Parliament

Choose your level

New Zealand uses a voting system called MMP — Mixed Member Proportional. The big idea is simple: a party’s share of seats in Parliament should match its share of the votes.

You get two votes

Your party vote chooses which party you support — this is the most important one, because it decides how many seats each party gets. Your electorate vote chooses the local MP for the area you live in.

Parliament has 120 seats

To govern, a party (or a group of parties working together) needs more than half — at least 61 seats. Use the seat allocator below: drag the party-vote sliders and watch the seats fill the House.

Try it yourself

Seat Allocator

Move the party-vote sliders and watch the House fill.

Largest party: National with 47 seats

National

38.0% · 47 seats

Labour

27.0% · 34 seats

Green

12.0% · 15 seats

ACT

9.0% · 11 seats

NZ First

6.0% · 7 seats

Te Pāti Māori

3.0% · 0 seats

Below the 5% threshold — no list seats

Other parties

5.0% · 6 seats

Build a Government

Using the real 2023 result, pick parties to reach the 62-seat majority.

62 = majority

0 seats

Select parties to begin…

The actual government formed in 2023 was National + ACT + New Zealand First (68 seats).

Test what you learned

Quick checkQuestion 1 of 4

Which of your two votes decides how many seats a party gets?

Sources

Based on civics material from parliament.nz and the Electoral Commission (elections.nz). Non-partisan and free to use.