new zealand Political System, Education and Economy.docx

Chapter 2 Political System, Education and Economy
Government
I. The Constitution
---- made up of parliamentary statutes(议会制定的法规), judicial rulings(司法机关的裁决) and administrative practices(行政实践的惯例)
--- no unique written constitutional document
II. Parliament (the Head of State is the British monarch Queen Elizabeth II, represented by Governor-General)
---a single-chamber parliament—the House of Representatives
—It follows the British Westminster traditions. Its important functions include enacting laws(颁布), supervising the government’s administration and the redress of grievances (伸冤) by receiving petitions. It is now elected under the MMP system, which decides the number of seats each political party can take in it.
---120 Members of Parliament, 64 elected and 56 appointed by the political parties.
---Election
—from the age of 18, every New Zealand citizen or permanent resident is entitled to vote in the elections.
—secret ballots held every 3 years
—two main parties are the National Party (国民党)and the Labour Party
III. Mixed Member Proportional Representation (MMP) 混合成员比例代表制
--- MMP came into force in 1996. Under this system, every voter votes twice: one for a candidate in their electorate, other for a political party. The party vote decides the number of seats a political party can have in Parliament. Under MMP, any political party with more than 5% of the party v