KEY POINTS:
National Leader John Key says his party will honour its previous commitments and hold a referendum on MMP if it is elected to government.
The referendum was in the party's 2002 and 2005 election policies and it will be the same this time around, Mr Key said at the weekend.
This would initially lead to a referendum in 2011 asking whether voters were satisfied with MMP.
If they were happy with the current electoral system that would be the end of the matter.
If they were not a second referendum would be held asking what system they would like.
Mr Key said he believed New Zealanders did not want a return to the old electorate-based system, with the winner taking all.
National had received a lot of feedback from people who were unhappy they had not had the right to have a second look at the electoral system.
MMP was introduced in 1996 after a two-stage referendum and more than a decade of debate.
People had been promised a referendum and they should get one, Mr Key said.
He refused to say whether a referendum would be a bottom line in talks with potential partners, most of whom rely on MMP for their place in Parliament. He said he would not debate before the election about what were bottom line issues for National.
National would put up policy and seek a mandate - if it got the votes, it would implement them, he said.
The referendum news comes as the latest political poll puts the party on track for a landslide election win, with a 27-point advantage over Labour.
The Fairfax poll, which gave National 56 per cent support and Labour just 29 per cent, would give the party a 13-seat majority.
Mr Key said Finance Minister Michael Cullen had the opportunity in his Budget to deliver something to taxpayers by underpromising and overdelivering.
He said that when New Zealanders were having to make choices about whether they could afford basic food like cheese, then the time had come to help them out.
- NZPA
