The more seats a party has in Parliament, the more influence it is likely to have in deciding what laws are passed and how the country is run. The number of Party Votes won by each registered party which has submitted a Party List is used to decide how many seats each party will have in Parliament. Your residential address decides which electorate you will be in. Electorates The NZ Parliament includes General and Maori electorates. Qualified electors who are a NZ Maori, or a descendent of a NZ Maori can choose whether they want to vote for a General electorate or a Maori electorate.
Every electorate has roughly the same number of people in it.
Over time, some areas can grow while others shrink, so the boundary lines sometimes need adjusting. Every five years, after the population census, the Representation Commission looks at all of the electorates. This process starts with the Maori electoral option. If there has been a large population shift in an electorate, the Commission may have to change the boundaries to ensure each electorate has about the same number of people in it. The new boundaries are then used for the next election.