On No Kings Day, a chant reverberated throughout America as 7 million protesters marched in 2,700 cities and towns all across the country—including the Central Coast: “Tell me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like!”
After a two-week tour of New Zealand, here’s what one version of democracy looks like: This small island nation of fewer than 6 million “Kiwis” has built a flourishing model of democracy.
In addition to their unique geography and inspiring landscapes, New Zealand’s people are a fascinating conglomerate with a unique political culture—one that offers inspiration and maybe even a small candle of hope to our polarized nation.
New Zealand operates with a single-chamber national Parliament in their capital, Wellington, that is a unique product of their diverse population: It has been heralded with a world record in representation from the LGBTQ-plus community, and in 2022, female members of Parliament briefly outnumbered the men 60 to 59.
In 2023, however, Kiwis elected a right-wing coalition in a stinging rebuke of their once-popular Labour leader, Jacinda Ardern. The Labour Party had won a nearly unpredicted majority in 2020, but only three years later they took only 27 percent of the seats. They lost for a variety of reasons, including a stumbling response to the COVID pandemic, rising inflation, and a scorching disinformation campaign orchestrated by Moscow.
One-sixth of Kiwis identify with the indigenous Māori culture that first settled in New Zealand in the 13th century—half a millennium before the English arrived to colonize the country in the 19th century. In 2023, the proportion of Parliament members who identified as Māori rose and now comprises 27 percent of the Parliament—10 points higher than their share of New Zealand’s overall population (17.4 percent).
New Zealanders vote on a regular three-year election cycle, and what is unusual is their 30-year-old method of apportioning seats according to a formula they call “mixed member proportion” (MMP). Voters get to cast two ballots: The first for the individual they want to represent them in Parliament, and the second for one of 14 political parties. The party that wins the most votes will form the next government, based on the composition of the Parliament, which holds a mix of “constituency MPs” (members of Parliament) as well as “list MPs” who are drawn from lists of party leaders who are seated in order of their respective party lists, in proportion to that party’s share of the national vote.
When all the results are in, Kiwis usually know which individual will become their new prime minister: It’s the leader of the party with the largest representation in Parliament. With so many parties competing for their votes, however, it’s almost always a coalition government, hammered together through painstaking negotiations among party leaders.
The result is a Parliament that truly represents the will of the voters by the magic of building coalitions.
Kiwis are rightfully proud of their democracy. They defeated an effort to repeal the MMP system in a 2011 referendum. Contrast that with the hugely unpopular two-party system that evolved in the U.S.: A patchwork of precedent and political opportunism, hemorrhaging its integrity by its dependence on PAC campaign funds that almost guarantees government-by-oligarchy.
Next year’s election in New Zealand is expected to produce another pendulum swing, returning a progressive coalition to power with new vision supplied by energetic, left-leaning party leaders both within and outside of the Labour Party.
The people of New Zealand appear to be happy with the pluralism, the dynamism, and the overall direction of their national government. When the mood of the voters changes, the government changes with it.
And I cannot leave New Zealand without mentioning one other unique virtue of their politics: The home of their prime minister is called Premier House, a relatively modest 19th century dwelling in Wellington last renovated in 1990. It requires some serious attention to deferred maintenance—and yet their prime minister is only permitted to occupy it if they do not already reside in and represent Wellington!
Premiere House is a valued part of “Heritage New Zealand,” and the government has pledged significant money to restore it to its former elegance, but it would be unthinkable for a prime minister to order any part of it to be renovated or expanded—let alone demolished—without extensive consultation and public consensus.
Another contrast, then, with the U.S. where the White House has just suffered a devastating blow: A wrecking crew demolished the entire East Wing of this iconic building in complete disregard of the laws and regulations governing such work.
The No Kings march earlier this fall has shown a way for the people to seize control of our democracy and reject a narcissistic, self-serving tyrant determined to reshape our institutions in his personal megalomaniacal image. As we look ahead to the 2026 midterm elections—now just one year away—we should look for inspiration to that small island nation lying 6,700 miles away.
John Ashbaugh wrote this commentary to the Sun from New Zealand. Send a response to letters@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 20 – Nov 27, 2025.