David Seymour criticises ‘out-of-date’ system as people to help decide key election details revealed

The Government has revealed some of the key people who will help decide electoral boundaries for the next election, though one of the coalition’s most senior members has criticised the “out-of-date” system and said it could be more politically neutral.

The Representation Commission regularly redraws the boundaries of electorates to ensure they have roughly the same number of people in each. This is done after each five-yearly population census.

However, the next review, which will take place before the 2026 election, could prove controversial as changes to population data at the last census mean the number of electorates in the North Island will need to decrease by one.

While most of the members of the Representation Commission are senior officials, such as the Chief Electoral Officer, the Government and the Opposition each have a representative.

It’s been revealed former National MP Roger Sowry, who’s been on the commission before, will represent the Government, while former Labour leader Andrew Little will represent the Opposition.

A motion was moved by Minister Chris Penk in the House on Thursday nominating the figures and it was agreed to by the House.

While Penk’s speech was limited to explaining the process and the biographical information of the individuals, Labour’s justice spokesman Duncan Webb said they had a “challenging task ahead of them”.

“Electoral boundaries are important, but, at the same time, it is important that there’s a fair degree of distance between those who are directly affected by it and those who make those decisions,” Webb said.

“Obviously, many of us here will have views and feed that in one way or another to this process, but we absolutely support these appointments. We think there’s a high degree of competence and, also, the right approach of the public service by these appointees, notwithstanding the political backgrounds that exist there as well.”

But how the Representation Commission is made up has previously been criticised as not fitting an MMP environment and only reflecting the perspectives of the two largest parties on a critical election matter.

Act leader David Seymour says election rules should be made in a "more politically neutral way". Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Act leader David Seymour told the Herald he wasn’t making a personal criticism of those nominated to be on the panel, but called the system “out of date”.

“One person deciding electoral boundaries that affect all parties and could decide the outcome of the election is a recent Labour leader, and the other a former National MP,” he said.

“That might have been appropriate in the New Zealand of yesterday, but today we’d expect the rules of the election to be made in a more politically neutral way.”

Asked about Seymour’s comments, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said all political parties, inside and outside of Parliament, would be able to submit on any boundary changes made.

That’s part of the regular process whereby the Representation Commission agrees on the boundaries and the names of the electorates, releases them for public consultation, considers any submissions, and then publishes a report with its final decision.

“The Government and Opposition nominate appointees to represent all parties. There are no current plans to change the legislation,” Goldsmith said.

The Government and the Opposition each has a representative on the Representation Commission.

Seymour may be particularly interested in how the electoral boundaries are drawn up before the next election.

It’s been speculated, including by University of Otago professor of law Andrew Geddis, that Epsom, which Seymour has represented since 2014, could be impacted.

The theory presented has been that as Epsom sits in the middle of a number of electorates all under their minimum population limit, Epsom could be sliced up and its population divided among others.

There are other factors though, such as how boundary changes in electorates with more than the required number of people flow on. Wellington is also an area with electorates under the limit, so changes could be found there.

Epsom has been one of the most watched seats in recent times. Between 2005 and 2017, the Act candidate who won it needed the seat to enter Parliament as the party’s overall vote was below the 5% threshold.

That changed, however, in 2020 when Act received 7.58% of the final party vote, meaning it would have got MPs in Parliament regardless of whether it continued to hold Epsom. In 2023, Act got 8.64% of the vote.

Seymour was asked by the Herald last month, when it was confirmed an electorate would need to be disestablished, if he was concerned Epsom could be removed.

“Anyone would be very concerned if they thought their community and their electorate would be changed,” he said.

“Ultimately, there is a process to go through. The Epsom electorate is a community of interest. It has a lot in common. It is geographically defined by a bunch of features of Auckland and so there is a strong case for it to remain as it is.”

As well as population figures, the Representation Commission also considers factors such as communities of interest, infrastructure that links communities, topographic features and projected variations in the population over the next five years.

The Electoral Commission told the Herald the exact membership of the Representation Commission that will review the boundaries hasn’t been confirmed. The timetable is still to be decided, but it’s likely to take place next year.

The Representation Commission also considers Māori electorate boundaries. On this issue, the membership also includes a Te Puni Kōkiri representative and a Government and an Opposition representative. Penk said Anglican minister and former journalism lecturer Dr Steven Elers will represent the Government for this, while educator Professor Meihana Durie will represent the Opposition.

Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub Press Gallery office.