新西蘭英語 343 Local Body Elections

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Who are those faces that we see in bill boards all around our town or city? These are people who want to represent you on the council, or community board, or hospital board. Every three years, we have a chance to vote for the people we want on these boards. If you believe in democracy, you should vote, even if you only choose to vote for one person that you know.

You should have your voting papers for the local body elections by now. You can vote for a mayor for your city or region and for councillors for your ward. Each city is divided into a number of wards. Each ward has 1, 2 or 3 councillors, depending on the size of the ward. In Auckland, you will be voting for a mayor and council for the new Super City. This council replaces the eight councils like Waitakere, and Manukau. Listen to Auckland Super-City Changes for more about this.

You will have voting papers for your local community board also. This board looks after community matters.

In some cities and regions, you also vote for the regional council. The regional council looks after the environment of the region including natural resources like rivers. Canterbury people cannot vote for a regional council this time because the government dismissed the councillors. Listen to April 28th 2010 for background to this.

You also vote for seven members of your local Health Board. There are 20 Health Boards in New Zealand. They each have seven elected representatives and four members appointed by the Minister of Health. This is a Single Transferable Vote – STV. You give a number for each person: 1 for your first choice, 2 for your second and so on. You can just vote for one person if you wish.

This is a postal vote. You must return your voting papers by midday of October 9th.

Listen to Register to Vote for more about voting. You can find more information at Local Body Elections

Questions

1. Is it compulsory to vote?

2. Why did less than 50% vote in local body elections three years ago?

3. Do you think there is more interest in the local body elections in Auckland this year than in other years?