The New Zealand general prosecutor warns the electoral reform of her government could violate human rights law | New Zealand
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon defended his government’s plans to revise his electoral laws, despite the warnings of his own attorney general, changes could violate human rights and disinflected more than 100,000 voters.
Last week, the right -wing government announced its intention to shake up the electoral laws which, according to him, were “outdated and unbearable”, in particular the closure of voter registrations 13 days before the day of the ballot, reinstate a total ban on the voting of prisoners and prohibiting anyone from providing food, drinks or free entertainment less than 100 meters from a vote.
Since 1993, voters have been authorized to register to vote during the voting period in advance of two weeks and, more recently, on election day, throwing what is called a “special vote”.
Luxon told RNZ on Monday that late registrations had led to delays for several weeks in the counting of votes.
“We want everyone to participate in our democracy … But we have to make sure that people are registered before the vote,” he said.
But in a report to Parliament, the Attorney General, Judith Collins, warned that the proposal “seems incoherent” on the rights of rights, including the right to vote and the right to freedom of expression.
Collins noted that in the general elections of 2023, more than 200,000 special votes were expressed, including 97,000 people who first registered during the voting period, and nearly 134,000 people who changed their electoral district during the voting period.
“This gives a certain indication of the number of people who can be affected, the more distant the deadline for recording the day of the election, the more the impact of priority is probably,” said Collins.
Changing the deadline for registration at one to seven days before election day “would impose less expensive limits on the right to vote,” she said.
Special votes are more likely to come from young people and areas with larger maori, Asian and Pasifika communities, and these communities can be more affected by the proposed registration date, said Collins.
With regard to the general ban on the prisoners’ vote, Collins said that this would deprive those who have the right to vote “and cannot be justified”.
Luxon said that the Attorney General had the statutory obligation to examine whether the legislation contravenes the Declaration of Rights and that the Government would examine this Council.
Collins refused the request of the Guardian of additional comments.
The proposed changes have pulled the anger of the opposition parties, which believe that the government weakens democracy.
“As a country, we should encourage the participation rate and make changes to support this – not eliminating them,” said Duncan Webb, Labor justice spokesperson.
“This is a terrible change that will make more difficult for many people to exercise their democratic law.”
