Najla'a's+Group+-+POLITICS

__MEN IN POLITICS__
The play opens during the post-MMP political period of he 1996-1998 coalition between National and New Zealand First. Jenny Shipley became NZ's first female Prime Minister in 1997 but NZ politics was still male dominated at the time. The Deputy Prime Minister, Winston Peters, and the minister of Maori affairs, Tau Henare were both male and the NZ First party itself was seen as the obvious vehicle for ambitious Maori males entering their middle years who would like to gain parliamentary political power. Woman were on the verge of finding a permanent foot hold in NZ political affairs and the majority of men were willing to accept this but for the wrong reasons. Prior to the 1996 election, New Zealand had a first past the post (FPP) electoral system. Systems such as FPP and preferential voting involve selecting individual candidates for single-member electorates. Compared to systems with lists or multi-member electorates, preselection positions in single-member systems are scarce. Research indicates that women are much less likely to be selected as candidates under the single-member system than under proportional electoral systems. Political parties tend to go for the political norm, which is usually a man while women, if selected, are disproportionately chosen for unobtainable or marginal seats. Because of this trend, the 1993 figure of 21 per cent of women represented in the New Zealand Parliament is considered exceptionally high for a country with a FPP electoral system. Women's representation has been higher in New Zealand than in other countries with similar sorts of electoral systems and political cultures but the choice to allow them seats may well have been a token gesture on the part of male politicians at the time. Men were the backbone of NZ politics in the period 1996-1998. The majority of MP's and voters alike were male.

[|Women's suffrage] was granted after about two decades of campaigning by women such as [|Kate Sheppard]and [|Mary Ann Müller] and organizations such as the New Zealand branch of the [|Women's Christian Temperance Union]. They felt that female voting would increase the morality of politics; their opponents argued that politics was outside women's 'natural sphere' of the home and family. Suffrage advocates countered that allowing women to vote would encourage policies which protected and nurtured families.[//[|citation needed]//] From 1887, various attempts were made to pass bills enabling female suffrage; each bill came close to passing but none succeeded until a government strategy to foil the 1893 bill backfired. By 1893 there was considerable popular support for women's suffrage, and the Electoral Bill passed through the [|Lower House]with a large majority. The [|Legislative Council] (upper house) was divided on the issue, but when[|Premier][|Richard Seddon] ordered a [|Liberal Party] councillor to change his vote, two other councillors were so annoyed by Seddon's interference that they changed sides and voted for the bill, allowing it to pass by 20 votes to 18. Seddon was anti-prohibitionist, and had hoped to stop the bill in the upper house.[//[|citation needed]//] Both the [|Liberal government] and the opposition subsequently claimed credit for the enfranchisement of women, and sought women's newly acquired votes on these grounds.[|[3]] Women were not eligible to be elected to the [|House of Representatives] until [|1919] though, when three women, including [|Ellen Melville]stood. The first woman to win an election (to the seat held by her late husband, see [|widow's succession]) was [|Elizabeth McCombs] in[|1933], followed by [|Catherine Stewart] (1938), [|Mary Dreaver] (1941), [|Mary Grigg] (1942) and [|Mabel Howard] (1943). Melville stood for the [|Reform Party] and Grigg for the [|National Party], while Stewart, Dreaver and Howard were all [|Labour Party]. The first Maori woman MP was [|Iriaka Ratana] in 1949; she succeeded to the seat held by her late husband. Women were not eligible to be appointed to the [|New Zealand Legislative Council] (the Upper House of Parliament) until 1941. The first two women ([|Mary Dreaver] and Mary Patricia Anderson of Greymouth) were appointed in 1946 by the [|Labour Government]. In 1950 the "suicide squad" appointed by the [|National Government] to abolish the Legislative Council included three women: Mrs Cora Burrell of Christchurch, Mrs Ethel Gould of Auckland and Agnes Louisa Weston of Wellington. In 1989 [|Helen Clark] became the first female [|Deputy Prime Minister]. In 1997, the then-current Prime Minister [|Jim Bolger] lost the support of the[|National Party] and was replaced by [|Jenny Shipley], making her the first female [|Prime Minister of New Zealand]. In 1999, Clark became the second female Prime Minister of New Zealand, and the first woman to gain the position at an election. The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 was authorised by the [|Queen] by Royal Warrant dated 1 July 1993, and was awarded to 546 selected persons in recognition of their contribution to the rights of women in New Zealand or to womens’ issues in New Zealand or both.[|[4]]
 * __Women in NZ Politics. - Ximena__**


 * //So at the time of Waiora, the woman's right in a political sense was equal to mans, however New Zealand had not yet experienced being run by a female prime minister, which was to come in the late 1990's. In the thirty years that seperates the time setting of Waiora and Purupuruwhetu, women would have gained more respect and trust in the political sense from their country, as reflected by the first female deputy Prime Minister being elected in 1989 (Helen Clark). So even though women had the same 'voting rights' in the different time settings of Purupuruwhetu and Waiora, females had much more influence over New Zealand politics at the time of Purupuruwhetu (mid 90's) than in Waiora (mid 60's).//

__Maori In Politics - Craig__** The reader is left more or less uninformed about the political developments which have followed Ratana's visit to Prime Minister Savage in 1935, although much of importance has undoubtedly occurred since then, including the growing political significance of the Ratana and Mormon churches; the passing of the 1937 Election Amendment Act which granted Maoris the secret ballot, the introduction for the first time in 1949 of Maori rolls, the extension of compulsory registration to Maoris in 1956 and the continuing debate on separate Maori representation. In the 1930s, new movements began to arise in Māori politics. In particular, the [|Ratana] church expanded its political participation, standing candidates for Parliament. In the [|1935 elections], Ratana won two of the four Māori seats. The Ratana MPs did not remain independent for long, however — they quickly merged into the [|Labour Party], which they saw as best addressing Māori needs. By [|1943], the Labour/Ratana alliance had won all four Māori seats, establishing a pattern of dominance that many people thought was unbreakable. Among the most prominent Māori MPs in the Labour Party were [|Eruera Tirikatene], who was succeeded by his daughter, [|Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan] — both represented [|Southern Māori] in Parliament for several decades. In [|New Zealand politics], the **Māori Seats**, a special category of [|electorate], give **[|reserved positions]** to representatives of [|Māori] in the [|New Zealand Parliament]. That parliament first set up Māori Seats in 1867, after Britain established [|Westminster-style] [|parliamentary] [|government] in [|New Zealand] in 1852.

__**OVERVIEW OF POLITICS IN PURAPURAWHETU - Hamish**__ The **1996 New Zealand general election** was held on 12 October 1996 to determine the composition of the [|45th New Zealand Parliament]. It was notable for being the first election to be held under the new [|Mixed Member Proportional] [|electoral system], and produced a parliament considerably more diverse than previous elections. It saw the [|National Party], led by [|Jim Bolger], retain its position in government, but only after protracted negotiations with the smaller [|New Zealand First] party to form a coalition. New Zealand First's position as "kingmaker", able to place either of the two major parties into government, was a significant election outcome

Changes mid-term
In the 1993 election, the [|National Party] and the [|Labour Party] had won 50 and 45 seats, respectively. The [|Alliance] and the [|New Zealand First] party had each won two seats. In the approach to MMP, however, there had been considerable rearrangement in parliament, with three new parties being established. As such, the situation just before the 1996 election was markedly different from the situation that had been established at the 1993 election.
 * **Party** || **Won at 1993 election** || **By time of 1996 election** || **Reasons for change** ||
 * [|National] || 50 || **41** || Defection of 9 MPs ||
 * [|Labour] || 45 || **41** || Defection of 4 MPs ||
 * [|United] || - || **7** || Formed by 4 former National MPs and 3 former Labour MPs ||
 * [|NZ First] || 2 || **5** || Initial MPs joined by 2 former National MPs and one former Labour MP ||
 * [|Alliance] || 2 || **2** || No change ||
 * [|Conservative] || - || **1** || Founded by 2 former National MPs; one later became an independent ||
 * [|Christian Democrats] || - || **1** || Founded by a former National MP ||
 * Independents || - || **1** || [|Ross Meurant], a former National (and briefly Conservative) MP ||
 * [|Alliance] || 2 || **2** || No change ||
 * [|Conservative] || - || **1** || Founded by 2 former National MPs; one later became an independent ||
 * [|Christian Democrats] || - || **1** || Founded by a former National MP ||
 * Independents || - || **1** || [|Ross Meurant], a former National (and briefly Conservative) MP ||
 * [|Christian Democrats] || - || **1** || Founded by a former National MP ||
 * Independents || - || **1** || [|Ross Meurant], a former National (and briefly Conservative) MP ||
 * Independents || - || **1** || [|Ross Meurant], a former National (and briefly Conservative) MP ||

The election
The date of the 1996 election was 12 October; it was brought forward slightly to avoid the need for a by-election following the resignation of [|Michael Laws]. (A by-election is not needed if there will be a general election within 6 months of the seat being vacant.) Of the 2,418,587 people registered to vote, 88.3% turned out to vote. The turnout was a slight improvement on the previous two elections, but still slightly lower than what would have been expected during the 1980s. The number of seats being contested was 120, an increase of 21 from the previous election, but as 55 of the new seats were for list candidates, the number of electorates was reduced considerably and many electorates had their boundaries amended or were abolished. While the number of general seats decreased from 95 (1993) to 60 (1996), the number of Māori seats increased from 4 to 5.

Summary of results
The 1996 election eventually saw a victory for the governing __[|National Party]__, which won around a third of the vote. The opposition [|Labour Party][|New Zealand First] party, which won 17 seats, was placed in the position of "kingmaker", able to provide the necessary majority to whichever side it chose. Although predicted by many to ally with Labour, New Zealand First leader [|Winston Peters] eventually chose to form a coalition with National, thus preserving Prime Minister [|Jim Bolger]'s administration. won slightly less. The election, however, was not decided by the comparative strengths of the major parties - rather, the smaller The 1996 election effectively showcased the difference made by the new electoral system. The [|Alliance] and [|New Zealand First], both of which held two seats each in the old parliament, increased their representation to 13 and 17 seats, respectively, as a result of the change. The new [|ACT New Zealand] also benefited, taking eight seats. The MMP system did not, however, save the [|United New Zealand] party - United was virtually wiped out, retaining only a single seat. The [|Conservative Party] fared even worse, failing to remain in parliament at all. Also notable in the 1996 election campaign was the [|Christian Coalition], an alliance of the [|Christian Democrats] and the [|Christian Heritage Party]. Although the party had briefly crossed the 5% threshold in some polls, it gained only 4.33% at the election, and therefore did not qualify for proportional representation. With the exception of the Maori [|Ratana] movement, this is the closest that an overtly religious party has come to winning representation in parliament. Voters were prepared with MMP to vote for minor party candidates with their electorate vote, hence in a number of electorates won by National or Labour the other major party candidate came third or even fourth; previously the two top polling candidates were almost always National and Labour.
 * Summary of the 27 November 1996 [|New Zealand House of Representatives]** election results||||~ party ||~ votes ||||~ % of votes ||||||||~ seats ||
 * ||  ||~ % ||~ change ||~ electorate ||~ list ||~ total ||~ change ||
 * || [|National] || 701,315 || **33.87** || -1.18 || 30 || 14 || **44** || -6 ||
 * || [|Labour] || 584,159 || **28.19** || -6.49 || 26 || 11 || **37** || -8 ||
 * || [|NZ First] || 276,603 || **13.35** || +4.95 || 6 || 11 || **17** || +15 ||
 * || [|Alliance] || 209,347 || **10.10** || -8.11 || 1 || 12 || **13** || +11 ||
 * || [|ACT] || 126,442 || **6.10** || +6.10 || 1 || 7 || **8** || +8 ||
 * || [|United] || 18,245 || **0.88** || +0.88 || 1 || 0 || **1** || +1 ||
 * || other parties || 156,248 || **7.54** || +3.88 || 0 || 0 || **0** || 0 ||
 * || **total** || 2,072,359 || 100.00 ||  || 65 || 55 || **120** || +21 ||
 * || informal votes || 8,183 ||||||||||||  ||
 * || disallowed special votes || 54,633 ||||||||||||  ||
 * || total votes cast || 2,135,175 ||||||||||||  ||
 * || turnout |||||||||||||| 88.28% ||
 * || turnout |||||||||||||| 88.28% ||