New Zealand By-Elections and MMP: the Labour Party and the Mt Albert By-Election

Abstract

This article seeks to critically examine and document the Mt Albert by-election within the context of New Zealand by-elections and MMP, and further aims to update the literature on the subject of New Zealand parliamentary by-elections. This account of the Mt Albert by-election places emphasis on the Labour Party perspective towards the by-election. The article argues that the propositions regarding New Zealand by-elections under the FPP electoral system, and the actors who contest them, still hold true for MMP by-elections. However, the introduction of MMP has changed — for better or for worse — the dynamic of these events.