NZ Herald editorial: German voters know where all parties stand

German Chancellor Angela Merkel smiles during a press conference. Photo / AP

Only one other country has an electoral system like ours, Germany, whose system was the model we adopted 24 years ago. By happy chance Germany too held a general election at the weekend and although the result was the same - the governing centre-right party won the most seats - the outcome is proving quite different.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives are certain to remain the government for an historic fourth term although they dropped nine points on the previous election and won just 32.9 per cent of the vote. Contrast that with the National Party here that won 46 per cent, dropping only a point on its last election result but its prospects of a fourth term - which would be historic here too - await the decision of a party with just 7.5 per cent.

One reason for the difference is that Germany does not have a party in play like NZ First that keeps its cards so close to its chest before the election. Voters for all the parties that cleared the 5 per cent threshold in Germany had a fairly clear idea of where each party stood and what its post-election alignment would be.

Another reason is that the Green Party in Germany is willing to go into governments led by the main parties of the right or left. Indeed, Merkel is counting on the Greens as well as the economically liberal Free Democratic Party (Act's equivalent) to form her next coalition. She is likely to get the Greens' support because the other main party, the centre-left Social Democrats, polled just 20.5 per cent, too low to put any coalition together.

It is doubtful New Zealand's Green Party would join National in government even if the votes allowed no other government to be formed. Parties such as Act and the Greens still hold the old binary loyalties of our long Westminster tradition.

The big difference between Germany's election and New Zealand's is that both main parties here are in a position to form a government if they can get the support of NZ First. Germany's Social Democrats have suffered for becoming the junior partner in Merkel's last coalition and there lies another lesson for New Zealand. Many who find it unsatisfactory that our election should come down to a decision by an unpredictable small party are asking why National and Labour do not form a "grand coalition" here.

The prospect has appeal to National voters, whose party would be the dominant partner, but it would endanger Labour's survival as a major party. A grand coalition would leave a vacuum that would be filled by another party, one probably to the left of Labour or the right of National. The rise of a new far-right, anti-immigrant party was the most startling feature of the German election. The "Alternative for Germany" polled 13 per cent, more than the Free Democrats, Greens or an extreme left-wing party that also cleared the threshold.

Germany has had MMP for much longer, but a quarter of a century after its adoption here we should not be waiting for one party to give us a decisive result.