In
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 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, waka-jumping is a colloquial term for when a
member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP)
switches political party between elections, taking their parliamentary seat with them and potentially upsetting electoral proportionality in the
New Zealand Parliament
The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand ( King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by h ...
. In 2001 legislation was enacted that required
list MP
A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than from by a geographical constituency. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes that the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs ...
s to leave Parliament if they waka-jumped; this law expired after the 2005 election. In 2018 a similar law was passed which requires a defecting MP to give up their seat on the request of their former party leader.
Electorate
Electorate may refer to:
* The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate''
* The dominion of a Prince-elector
The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, ...
MPs may re-contest their seat in a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
, whereas list MPs are replaced by the next available person on the
party list
An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...
.
''
Waka
Waka may refer to:
Culture and language
* Waka (canoe), a Polynesian word for canoe; especially, canoes of the Māori of New Zealand
** Waka ama, a Polynesian outrigger canoe
** Waka hourua, a Polynesian ocean-going canoe
** Waka taua, a Māori w ...
'' is a
Māori language
Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...
word that originally meant a large
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
canoe (although it can also mean any other vehicle). Hence, the term waka-jumping is a variant of the seafaring term "" – to leave a ship's crew abruptly and against the terms of a fixed-term contract (or naval enlistment). To a lesser degree, it is connected to
waka hurdling: a traditional Maori sport, in which competitors jump canoes over suspended logs.
Legislation
The implementation of the
mixed-member proportional
Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a mixed electoral system in which votes cast are considered in local elections and also to determine overall party vote tallies, which are used to allocate additional members to produce ...
(MMP) electoral system after a referendum in 1993 led to a series of defections and re-alignments as the former
two-party system
A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referre ...
adjusted to the change. This led to the rise and fall of a number of
political parties in New Zealand
New Zealand national politics have featured a pervasive party system since the early 20th century. Usually, all members of Parliament's unicameral House of Representatives belong to a political party. Independent MPs do not occur often.
While ...
, including the creation of
New Zealand First
New Zealand First ( mi, Aotearoa Tuatahi), commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a nationalist and populist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Winst ...
and
ACT. The new political climate tended to favour the establishment of new political parties since in former times, dissidents had often simply become independent MPs. In the two previous parliaments before the 2001 Act had been passed, 22 MPs defected.
Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2001
![Tariana Turia NZgovt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Tariana_Turia_NZgovt.jpg)
The frequency of waka-jumping made New Zealand enact the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2001, which had been introduced by
Labour Party associate justice minister
Margaret Wilson
Margaret Anne Wilson (born 20 May 1947) is a New Zealand lawyer, academic and former Labour Party politician. She served as Attorney-General from 1999 to 2005 and Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2005 to 2008, during the Fifth L ...
in 1999 but had been promoted by Labour's coalition partner
Alliance
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
ahead of that year's general election. The Act expired at the 2005 election, when the sunset clause came into effect. It required MPs who had entered Parliament via a
party list
An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...
to resign from Parliament if they left that party's parliamentary
caucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures.
The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...
.
However, parties were still able to find ways around this law. When the
Alliance
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
split in 2002 over how to respond to the invasion of Afghanistan,
Jim Anderton
James Patrick Anderton (born Byrne; 21 January 1938 – 7 January 2018) was a New Zealand politician who led a succession of left-wing parties after leaving the Labour Party in 1989.
Anderton's political career began when he was elected to th ...
nominally remained the leader of the Alliance inside Parliament while he campaigned outside Parliament as the leader of the newly-founded
Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to:
Active parties
* Progressive Party, Brazil
* Progressive Party (Chile)
* Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus
* Dominica Progressive Party
* Progressive Party (Iceland)
* Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...
. The resulting uncertainty around the Alliance’s position contributed to Prime Minister
Helen Clark
Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...
's decision to call an
early general election in 2002. While the law was in force, it was used once to expel a list MP from Parliament (an electorate MP who changed parties could still fight a by-election, as Tariana Turia did).
In December 2003, the ACT Party caucus voted to expel
Donna Awatere Huata
Donna Lynn Awatere Huata (sometimes written Awatere-Huata, previously known as Donna Awatere; born 1949) is a former member of the New Zealand Parliament for the ACT New Zealand Party and activist for Māori causes.
Early life
Donna Awatere w ...
, an ACT list MP who became an independent after she had been charged with fraud. The expulsion became the subject of litigation, and Awatere Huata was not expelled from Parliament until a Supreme Court decision handed down in November 2004. A proposed Bill to replace the Act in 2005 failed.
Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2018 and repeal attempt
The
Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2018
The Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2018 is an Act of Parliament by the New Zealand Parliament that amends the Electoral Act 1993. The act forces the expulsion of Member of parliament#New Zealand, members of the New Zealand Parliament who ha ...
received Royal Assent on 3 October 2018 and entered into force in New Zealand the next day. The provisions on waka-jumping now appear as section 55A of the
Electoral Act 1993
The Electoral Act 1993 is an Act of the New Zealand Parliament for regulating elections in New Zealand. It "establishes the electoral agencies, electoral system, election processes (including that for disputing results), how MPs are replaced betw ...
. Under those provisions, members of Parliament who choose to leave their party or are expelled from their party are also expelled from Parliament if the leader of the party under which they were elected issues appropriate notice to the Speaker that the MP should be expelled, with the seat becoming
vacant
Within the context of building construction and building codes, "occupancy" refers to the use, or intended use, of a building, or portion of a building, for the shelter or support of persons, animals or property. A closely related meaning is th ...
.
Unlike the 2001 Act, the 2018 Act did not have a sunset clause and so remains in force until it is deliberately repealed. The Act was passed as part of the coalition agreement between New Zealand First and the Labour Party and supported through Parliament "begrudgingly" by the Green Party under the terms of its own confidence-and-supply agreement with Labour.
A
member's bill
A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in w ...
in the name of
National Party MP
David Carter with the intent of repealing the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2018 was introduced into Parliament in July 2020. The Green Party defied other government parties to support the repeal bill, with the first reading in Parliament passing by 64 to 55 votes. Carter's
Electoral (Integrity Repeal) Amendment Bill
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative ...
was then referred to the justice select committee. After the
2020 New Zealand general election
The 2020 New Zealand general election was held on Saturday 17 October 2020 to determine the composition of the 53rd parliament. Voters elected 120 members to the House of Representatives, 72 from single-member electorates and 48 from closed ...
, the bill's second reading was held on 12 May and 14 June 2021, and the Labour Party used its majority of 65 seats to block its passage.
List of waka-jumpers
Below is a list of notable waka-jumpers:
MMP era
Historic waka-jumpers
See also
*
Aaya Ram Gaya Ram
Aaya Ram Gaya Ram ( en, Ram has come, Ram has gone) expression in politics of India means the frequent floor-crossing, turncoating, switching parties and political horse trading in the legislature by the elected politicians and political pa ...
*
Crossing the floor
In parliamentary systems, politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a different political party than which they were initially elected under (as is the case in Canada and the United Kingdom). ...
*
Party switching
Party switching is any change in political party affiliation of a partisan public figure, usually one currently holding elected office.
Party switching also occurs quite commonly in Brazil, Italy, Romania, Ukraine, India, Malaysia , and the P ...
Notes
:1.After becoming an Independent politician, Peters successfully contested a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
in his Tauranga electorate.
:2.After switching to the Maori Party, Turia had to contest a by-election, in line with the ban on waka-jumping then in force. She won the
resulting contest in Te Tai Hauauru.
:3.After crossing to the Mana Movement, Harawira successfully contested a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
in his constituency of Te Tai Tokerau.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waka-Jumping
Politics of New Zealand
Party switching
New Zealand English
Political terminology in New Zealand