The Department of Internal Affairs: STV Information - Further Information about FPP


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More about FPP

Under the FPP (First Past the Post) electoral system, the candidate with the most votes wins. This is a very simple method of electing candidates and is widely used throughout the world. It was used in New Zealand for Parliamentary elections up until the introduction of MMP (Mixed Member Proportional) in the 1996 general election.

Although FPP is very simple, some people have argued that the results of an FPP election may not always reflect the wishes of the majority of voters. The following examples show how results of FPP elections may vary.

Where one candidate has a clear majority of votes, it can be seen that the majority of people did support the winning candidate –

Number of Votes Percentage of Votes

Candidate One 140 70%

Candidate Two 20 10%

Candidate Three 20 10%

Candidate Four 20 10%

Total Votes = 200 Total = 100%

In this example, the winning candidate received 70% of the total votes

However, the winning candidate might receive more votes than any other one candidate, but receive fewer votes than the other candidates put together.

Number of Votes Percentage of Votes

Candidate One 80 40%

Candidate Two 60 30%

Candidate Three 40 20%

Candidate Four 20 10%

Total Votes = 200 Total = 100%

In this case, the winning candidate got 40 of the total votes, the other candidates received 60 percent of votes. It could be said that the election result did not reflect the wishes of the majority.

Some people have also argued that even in the where the winning candidate gets the majority of the votes, many people’s votes are “wasted”.

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Last updated: 03/03/2005