Government of New Zealand

A Constitutional Monarchy You

Say???
When you hear that
New Zealand is a
constitutional
monarchy with a
parliamentary system
of government, this
means that the head
of state is a
sovereign. In plain

3 BRANCHES OF
GOVERNMENT:
1. The Legislature (Parliament)
The House of Representatives, make new
laws and update old ones, check actions
of executive branch.
2. The Executive
The government. Makes day day
decisions on money usage, brings laws to
parliament. Made up of ministers of the
Crown.

VOTING SYSTEM:
MMP: System used to elect members of
parliament. In this system each person gets
two votes.
Vote 1: Political Party Vote
This determines how many seats each party
will hold in parliament.
Vote 2: MP Vote Electoral Vote
This vote determines the winning caudate
based on the majority of votes.
For example, if a party gets 30% of the party
vote it will get roughly 36 MPs in Parliament
(being 30% of 120 seats). So if that party
wins 20 electorate seats it will have 16 List

Spring 2016, Issue 1

THE LEGAL
SYSTEM:
New Zealands legal
system is made up of
two parts, the statute
law and common law.
Statute law is any law
made by parliament.
Common law come
from laws that stem
from decisions made
in the UK and in New
Zealand.

SOURCES
USED:
How government works. (n.d.).
Retrieved March 29, 2016, from
https://www.govt.nz/browse/en
gaging-withgovernment/government-innew-zealand/
MMP Voting System. (n.d.).
Retrieved March 29, 2016, from
http://www.elections.org.nz/voti
ng-system/mmp-voting-system
Ministry of Justice, New
Zealand. (n.d.). Retrieved
March 29, 2016, from