It wasn't meant to be like that under MMP. New Zealanders were promised a plethora of parties vibrantly competing to secure the all-important party vote along with regional candidates contesting local issues for local people in local electorates. Everyone would get two votes when previously they had only one. Can you hear the cheers spontaneously erupting at this good news?
Except the promises were empty and the people were duped. MMP ushered in an era of even more power for ruling elites. Local people got shafted, and their local issues were totally forgotten unless they happened to be in Auckland, in which case they became sacrosanct must-do's.
What went wrong and why have all attempts to break the Labour-National duopoly failed? There are four key areas to consider:
1. It's about MMP
Check the name again; mixed-member-proportional. It's not only about members and neither is it only about proportionality. All wannabe smaller parties forget this and go hell for leather at either trying to win seats, or building their party vote. To grow into a large third party they must be able to win and hold electorate seats AND hold their party vote across the country. Failure to do both means they wither on the vine and expire.
Examples of failure include; NZ First in 1996, they took all Maori electorates as well as Tauranga which was held by its leader Winston Peters. In total they secured 17 seats. Their failure, they could not hold the Maori seats. Then we have the Maori party which despite winning many Maori electorate seats, could not pick up enough party votes to make an impression beyond that.
2. The Media
Smaller parties struggle to get positive media coverage. If they are in the media then it's likely to be with some kind of spin attached. An example of this is the constant reference to Green list member of parliament, Golriz Ghahraman as an Iranian refugee. Or ACT's sole MP and leader David Seymour being portrayed as a simpleton (for those that don't know - he has a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical and Electronic) and a BA (Philosophy) from the University of Auckland).
Any smaller party has to be able to infiltrate across the spectrum of news cycles - see 1 above.
3. Political Appointments and Alliances
Labour and National use their connections to maximum effect. National push their connections with farming, business and certain professions such as law and accounting. When in government they appoint their own people to groups and receive reward in favourable decisions and the corresponding coverage. Meanwhile Labour do the same thing, they have established union connections and they have the nurses, teachers and social workers in their hip pockets.
In this power play smaller parties cannot compete, in effect they're getting squeezed at both ends.
4. Government Departments and Flow of Information
Smaller parties work in a vacuum, they're starved of information and then find themselves walking into ambushes all the time. An example of this is the leaking of the superannuation details of NZ First leader Winston Peters.
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To get beyond small and to become a contender, a political party must bridge the gap between it and the two main parties. It must do this by winning at least 3 electoral seats and more than 10% of the popular vote, and then hold that position or increase it to become established. At that level it can no longer be ignored at the national level and at the local level it would have the reach to also influence voters on the ground. What we are talking about here is economies of scale. Has any smaller party done this? Since the end of the Second World War, only Social Credit came close during the late 70's and early 80's. They held two electorates during this time and their popular support rose to a high of 20% at the 1981 general election. So close and yet so far and that wasn't under MMP, so it can be done, it just requires clever use of resources and effective candidate selection.
