 Media releaseCouncil expected to opt for referendum on voting system following opinion pollPosted On: Tuesday, 24 January 2006Hamilton City Council is expected to opt in favour of holding a binding referendum on whether to adopt a Single Transferable Voting (STV) system or to retain First Past the Post (FPP). Council will formally decide on the issue at a meeting in early February. Hamilton mayor Michael Redman says the expected move is an outcome of what was promised in November last year, when Council said it would revisit the STV issue in February this year and use the intervening period to gauge public opinion. The Council-commissioned market research follows a public meeting that Council organised in late November. "We've stuck to our original timetable and approach to finalising this issue," he says. The poll shows that the voters are evenly split on the matter of whether or not to hold a referendum to decide the issue. "I have spoken with Councillors after receiving the opinion poll results and most are in favour of holding a referendum. The decision on whether to conduct a referendum will need to be formally made at a Council meeting." The Versus Research opinion poll surveyed 602 people and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4%. There results were:
"Councillors feel the level of support for a poll is enough for a referendum to be held," says Mr Redman. Assuming Council formally vote in favour of holding the referendum, it will need to be held no later than 21 May 2006. The cost of holding the referendum is likely to be approximately $150,000. Mr Redman says the reason that Council decided to conduct its own opinion poll research in this instance is due to the fact that there has been virtually no direct feedback from the public to elected members on the issue in spite of at times intense and unprecedented media coverage. "Normally in circumstances such as this where Council is making a policy change, there is considerable comment and correspondence that gives an indication of a public view. Even the petition to gather 4,198 names to force a referendum appears to have stalled, which in itself is surprising given the level of publicity. "Our hope now is that media interest will continue around the issue of STV and FPP, as promised, so that voters are well informed for the referendum and a reasonable turn out can be achieved." Hamilton City Council last year voted in favour of moving to the Single Transferable Voting system where voters rank candidates to ensure candidates with the broadest electoral support are elected. This is in preference to First Past the Post, which is where the candidate with the most votes wins and has been used previously. Under the Local Electoral Act 2001, Council has until 28 February to make any decision on whether or not to hold a referendum. If a decision is made in favour of referendum it must be held with 82 days of the decision being made. The result of the referendum would be binding for the 2007 and 2010 elections. ENDS FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT NAME: Michael Redman
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