Stefan Lipa (born 1953) (LL.B (''Auck'') 1975) is a former

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

politician. He was president of the Social Credit Party (originally the

Social Credit Political League The New Zealand Social Credit Party (sometimes called "Socred") is a political party which served as the country's third party from the 1950s through into the 1980s. The party held a number of seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives, ...

; in 1985 its name was changed to the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

) from 1979 to 1987 and he was a leading advocate of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

in New Zealand.

Early life

Lipa spent his childhood in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

and was educated at St Peter's College where one of the influential teachers was Tom Weal, deputy leader of the

1970–1972. Lipa studied law at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn ...

and practised law in Auckland.

Political career

Lipa was elected as a dominion councillor of the party in the 1970s. With

Bruce Beetham Bruce Craig Beetham (16 February 1936 – 3 May 1997) was an academic and politician from New Zealand, whose career spanned the 1970s and early 1980s. A lecturer at Hamilton's University of Waikato and at the Hamilton Teachers' Training Coll ...

, the leader of the party, he wrote a major submission on electoral reform to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reform. The submission proposed, '' inter alia'', the introduction of proportional representation into the political system of New Zealand to replace the then current ''

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

'' electoral system. On 23 August 1979, at the party's annual conference, he was, at the age of 26, elected as president of the party,"League Picks Lawyer", ''Dominion'', 24 August 1979, p. 3. a position he held until 1987. In the New Zealand general election of 1981, the party gained the greatest share of votes in its history, 20.65%. But the party only won two seats, giving poignant nuance to the work Lipa had done on electoral reform. From 1985 the Social Credit name was dropped, and the party became the

New Zealand Democratic Party The New Zealand Social Credit Party (sometimes called "Socred") is a political party which served as the country's Third party (politics), third party from the 1950s through into the 1980s. The party held a number of seats in the New Zealand H ...

with Lipa continuing as president until 1987. In 1996, New Zealand obtained a proportional representation system when the ''

'' system was replaced by the '' Mixed-Member Proportional Representation'' electoral system.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lipa, Stefan 1953 births Living people People educated at St Peter's College, Auckland University of Auckland alumni 20th-century New Zealand lawyers Leaders of political parties in New Zealand Politicians from Auckland New Zealand social crediters New Zealand Democratic Party for Social Credit politicians Social Credit Party (New Zealand) politicians