Only 73% of registered voters chose to vote on Saturday. This is the lowest percentage since 1887. 3,053,705 people are registered to vote but only 2.2m people voted. Although it is too early to know all the details, it seems that young people are not so interested in voting. Also fewer Maori voted and fewer people from South Auckland where Labour usually has a lot of support. Labour lost nine seats.
Although National was very popular, the party gained only two more seats than in 2008. This is because of MMP where votes for minor parties make a difference. The Green Party has four more seats this time and New Zealand First came back into Parliament with eight seats. However, ACT and the Maori Party lost seats.
The referendum voting showed that 54% want to keep MMP. However, there may be some small changes to MMP.
Grammar
Note “fewer” for countable nouns; “less” for uncountable nouns.
However, in speech many people use “less” for both countable and uncountable. In the future, the word “fewer” may disappear.
Questions
1. Why do you think are young people not so interested in voting?
2. If you live in New Zealand, do you know anyone who did not want to vote?
3. In Australia it is compulsory to vote. Do you think voting in a general election should be compulsory?