Local government and administrative divisions

New Zealand is a unitary state rather than a federation—regions are created by the authority of the central government, rather than the central government being created by the authority of the regions. Local government in New Zealand has only the powers conferred upon it by Parliament. These powers have traditionally been distinctly fewer than in some other countries. For example, police and education are run by central government, while the provision of low-cost housing is optional for local councils. Many of them used to control gas and electricity supply, but nearly all of that was privatised or centralised in the 1990s.

Local elections are held every three years to elect the mayors, city and district councillors, community board members, and district health board members.

Elections and party politics

The first political party in New Zealand was founded in 1891, and its main rival was founded in 1909—from that point until a change of electoral system in 1996, New Zealand had a de factotwo-party system. As of 2014 New Zealand has a genuinely multi-party system, with eight parties represented in Parliament. No party has been able to govern without support from other groups since 1996, making coalition government standard.

Traditionally the two largest, and oldest, parties are the Labour Party (centre-left progressive, formed in 1916) and the National Party (centre-right conservative, formed in 1936). Other parties represented in Parliament as of 2014 are ACT (free market), the Greens (left-wing, environmentalist), the New Zealand First Party (centrist, nationalist), United Future (family values),Māori Party (ethnic) and the Mana Party (socialist, indigenous rights)