Threshold matters

New Zealand First’s poll rating — and that of the Green Party for that matter — might see them wish to consider the issue of the MMP threshold.

Back when MMP was first proposed, the recommendation was a 4% threshold, a call repeated when MMP was reviewed.

That extra 1% has proven a tricky hurdle to clear, as New Zealand First (4% in 2008), the Conservatives (2.6% in 2011), New Conservatives (3.99% in 2014), The Opportunities Party (Top) (2.44% in 2017) can testify.

Many parties will likely miss out again — and Dunedin will be denied an extra MP if Top falls below 5% as Ben Peters, its Dunedin candidate, is high on its party list.

As the polls stand, just four parties will make up the next Parliament, hardly the wider representation which MMP was designed to promote.