Anti-MMP billboards go up

Anti-MMP billboards featuring Winston Peters went up today calling for New Zealanders to vote to abandon the current voting system. Photo / supplied

Anti-MMP billboards featuring Winston Peters went up today calling for New Zealanders to vote to abandon the current voting system.

The billboards ask whether people can trust Mr Peters to choose the next prime minister, referencing the two previous times the New Zealand First leader has been left as the king-maker following an election.

Vote for Change, the organisation behind the billboards, said if New Zealand First reached the 5 per cent threshold, Mr Peters could potentially choose the country's leader for a third time.

"We've used Mr Peters on our billboards as he represents everything wrong with the current system: disproportionate power, unaccountability and excused for broken promises," spokesman Jordan Williams said.

"The billboards are entirely funded by New Zealanders who want a voting system where the choice of who governs is shared among Kiwi voters, and not in the hands of politicians such as Mr Peters in post-election negotiations."

Mr Peters today declined to comment on being the face for the campaign, but has previously been scathing of the organisation.

The referendum will ask New Zealanders whether they want to keep the current mixed member proportional (MMP) system, and to choose which of four other voting systems they would want if MMP was replaced.

The four other systems up for discussion are First Past the Post, Preferential Voting, Supplementary Member and Single Transferable Vote.