NZ got proportional representation elections, in the end, kind of by accident. With 1980s Labour PM David Lange misreading his notes and committing to it, and when Labour reneged, National leader Jim Bolger promised a referendum on it. Thinking kiwis would never vote for it.

Juggernaut talks about all this in s02e04;

https://www.thespinoff.co.nz/podcasts/juggernaut

What Juggernaut doesn't cover in any detail is the years of grassroots campaigning that preceded all this.

#podcast #TheSpinoff #Juggernaut #MMP

"... the Greens are setting the direction for the entire opposition bloc, by virtue of being the ones providing the ideas. And this isn't just a question of Labour's current policy-silence, but of their long-term ideological emptiness ..."

@norightturnnz, 2025

Labour haven't been effective in opposition since the early 1980s. NZ could have been a one-party state since then (with 2 official factions; NatLabs and LabNats). Luckily folks keen on keeping multi-party representation won us #MMP.