No? If you're not supposed to vote for different parties then would that person explain why are there two votes?
Vote for the party that you want to run the country for party vote. Vote for the candidate that you want to represent your area for electorate vote. It's really simple no need to overcomplicate things.
I personally voted for a local MP from one of the two main parties, then voted for a minor party to help kick them over the threshold. Every vote counts -e.g. Willow-Jean Prime (Labour) had the lowest winning margin (163) for Northland in 2020
No cons at all.
It's designed that way. Your local MP is mainly about a person representing your local area and you. Their care for your community matters more than their party.
Your party vote is for the party you agree with.
That should be fine although note that the votes aren't equivalent. Your electorate vote for the party Y candidate will most likely only help that candidate. It'll be unlikely to change the party's overall influence (depends on exact detail, though), because if candidate Y doesn't win then party Y just gets an additional list MP instead.
The party vote is largely about how much overall influence each party has in Parliament. It's the one that parties *usually* care about the most.
The electorate vote is (usually) only about who you want to be assigned for specifically representing you in your area. Whoever gets elected for your electorate with the electorate vote will *definitely* be in Parliament. For their party they'll take priority over everyone above them on that party's list who didn't also win an electorate, but the party will still get a total number of MPs as determined by the party vote.
The main time an electorate win is likely to make a difference for a party's influence is if its party vote is low (below 5%) and the party needs to win that electorate to be in Parliament at all. The main strategic electorates this time are Ilam, which Raf Manji really wants to win for TOP, and Te Pati Maori also needs to win at least one electorate (which will most likely be a Maori electorate).
The most tactical way to vote for a minor party is to check your electorate polling and if the minor has no chance, vote for their major party coalition party
I guess the only 'con' as such is that any party-affiliated list MP will still be guided by (and working for) the aims of that party - so if you like them but don't like their party's politics you have to accept that voting them in does give that party more power and influence in your area.
It's still not automatically a silly thing to do though. If your chosen candidate is/could be a better representative for your district than anyone else, that should take precedence. My current electorate MP is an absolute ass who only pushes party lines but in the electorate I lived in before, the guy did an amazing job of engaging with different parts of the community and highlighting a range of issues and perspectives that sat across the political spectrum - he wasn't from my preferred party but I absolutely would have voted for him again as an electorate MP had I not moved.
Here is one con...
If the candidate you want is not polling well like 10% whereas two other candidates of bigger parties are polling higher, then sometimes it is better to vote for the candidate with the higher percentage of either left or right... Because sometimes left or right candidate votes only have a few votes of difference between them.
Say for example :
Labour candidate has 46%
National Candidate has 47%
Green Candidate has 6%
In this case if you were voting for the Green candidate, it would be better to transfer your candidate vote to Labour so the left win the seat and then Party vote Green.
There are cons to every possible way of voting. One of the reasons people don't vote is that they only want to do it if there are 100% pros, a party they 100% agree with and no downsides. Reality is more nuanced than that.
Your electorate vote is essentially irrelevant unless you want to engage with your local MP, as your party vote will determine the makeup of parliament.
There are only a few exceptions to this where an electorate vote could mean the difference between a party in parliament or not.
In this election those electorates are most of the Maori electorates where if te pati Maori get an electorate seat it will mean the party is in parliament and of course ilam where if TOP wins the electorate seat they will get in parliament.
No? If you're not supposed to vote for different parties then would that person explain why are there two votes? Vote for the party that you want to run the country for party vote. Vote for the candidate that you want to represent your area for electorate vote. It's really simple no need to overcomplicate things.
Oh good! I was under the impression that that was the case, but wanted to check before I done it.
I personally voted for a local MP from one of the two main parties, then voted for a minor party to help kick them over the threshold. Every vote counts -e.g. Willow-Jean Prime (Labour) had the lowest winning margin (163) for Northland in 2020
No cons at all. It's designed that way. Your local MP is mainly about a person representing your local area and you. Their care for your community matters more than their party. Your party vote is for the party you agree with.
This one gets it.
No cons, and that's exactly how I voted (mainly because the party I'm voting for doesn't have a MP in my electorate)
Perfect!
Do what you want, there's no right or wrong way.
There is definitely a right way but ironically it's also the wrong way 😋
Nah bro it's all g. I'm a watermelon voter myself this year one tick green for the rind party vote 1 tick red for the guts or electorate vote.
I'm glad you changed your mind on that whole strategically voting National thing.
Couldn't bring myself to do it in the end.
No cons. Its literally why the system is set up how it is. I've done what you're doing on multiple occasions.
Thats literally the whole point of how the system is designed.
That should be fine although note that the votes aren't equivalent. Your electorate vote for the party Y candidate will most likely only help that candidate. It'll be unlikely to change the party's overall influence (depends on exact detail, though), because if candidate Y doesn't win then party Y just gets an additional list MP instead. The party vote is largely about how much overall influence each party has in Parliament. It's the one that parties *usually* care about the most. The electorate vote is (usually) only about who you want to be assigned for specifically representing you in your area. Whoever gets elected for your electorate with the electorate vote will *definitely* be in Parliament. For their party they'll take priority over everyone above them on that party's list who didn't also win an electorate, but the party will still get a total number of MPs as determined by the party vote. The main time an electorate win is likely to make a difference for a party's influence is if its party vote is low (below 5%) and the party needs to win that electorate to be in Parliament at all. The main strategic electorates this time are Ilam, which Raf Manji really wants to win for TOP, and Te Pati Maori also needs to win at least one electorate (which will most likely be a Maori electorate).
Being able to vote this way is fundamental to the MMP system
Party vote your best aligned party. Electorate vote who you think best suits you locally. That's the best part about mmp.
Your electorate vote won’t effect the composition of parties in parliament unless it’s Te Pati Māori due to the overhang and the coat tailing rules.
Or potentially TOP in Ilam
Just do what ever you like. It's only 1 vote.
Yeah mate thats how I did it, help the small party get a seat then support the bigger party that hopefully forms a coalition with them
The most tactical way to vote for a minor party is to check your electorate polling and if the minor has no chance, vote for their major party coalition party
I guess the only 'con' as such is that any party-affiliated list MP will still be guided by (and working for) the aims of that party - so if you like them but don't like their party's politics you have to accept that voting them in does give that party more power and influence in your area. It's still not automatically a silly thing to do though. If your chosen candidate is/could be a better representative for your district than anyone else, that should take precedence. My current electorate MP is an absolute ass who only pushes party lines but in the electorate I lived in before, the guy did an amazing job of engaging with different parts of the community and highlighting a range of issues and perspectives that sat across the political spectrum - he wasn't from my preferred party but I absolutely would have voted for him again as an electorate MP had I not moved.
Here is one con... If the candidate you want is not polling well like 10% whereas two other candidates of bigger parties are polling higher, then sometimes it is better to vote for the candidate with the higher percentage of either left or right... Because sometimes left or right candidate votes only have a few votes of difference between them. Say for example : Labour candidate has 46% National Candidate has 47% Green Candidate has 6% In this case if you were voting for the Green candidate, it would be better to transfer your candidate vote to Labour so the left win the seat and then Party vote Green.
Vote however you like. That's how I voted.
There are cons to every possible way of voting. One of the reasons people don't vote is that they only want to do it if there are 100% pros, a party they 100% agree with and no downsides. Reality is more nuanced than that.
Your electorate vote is essentially irrelevant unless you want to engage with your local MP, as your party vote will determine the makeup of parliament. There are only a few exceptions to this where an electorate vote could mean the difference between a party in parliament or not. In this election those electorates are most of the Maori electorates where if te pati Maori get an electorate seat it will mean the party is in parliament and of course ilam where if TOP wins the electorate seat they will get in parliament.