Newstalk ZB: Oliver Hartwich on overhangs: “It should be done in this term”
Dr Oliver Hartwich joined Kerry Woodham on Newstalk ZB to discuss Saturday’s election result, which played out much as he predicted in his August research note Unravelling MMP: How the 2026 election could break the voting system from two sides.
With overhangs engineered on both the left and the right, Oliver said the result shows MMP is still poorly understood and too easily gamed. He outlined three fixes: a larger Parliament split evenly between electorate and list MPs; a cap on overhang seats, as Germany now has; or compensating other parties until Parliament is proportional again.
With no party winning more than 30% of the party vote, Oliver warned future elections could produce even bigger overhangs. Reform should happen this term, he said, including a conversation about the Māori seats.