Abstract
In 2011, New Zealand and Scotland held their parliamentary elections, in which the incumbent parties, the National Party and the Scottish National Party respectively, held on to power. The two countries share the mixed-member proportional representation in their electoral system. The New Zealand National Party came short of winning the majority of seats while the SNP enjoyed the feat, forming a majority government. This happened despite the fact that the New Zealand Nationals in fact captured a high percentage of votes than the SNP. It is because the Scottish electoral system sets 8 different regions in each of which proportional representation of various parties is aimed for. The present electoral system was endorsed in the referendum in New Zealand in November 26, 2011. However, given that New Zealand has long-standing natural regions such as Otago and Waikato, the Scottish style would be a possible alternative choice to circumvent the visible shortcomings of New Zealand's ongoing method. They are, for example, the secret conferences and wrangles for a party winning the largest number of seats to go through so to form and maintain a government.
