Voter turnout decline in New Zealand: A critical review of the literature and suggestions for future research

Voter turnout in New Zealand has declined markedly since 1984. This article offers a critical survey of policy and political science literature that addresses voter turnout decline in New Zealand, comparing it with international trends in this field. We provide a profile of the non-voter in New Zealand and identify and critique six common explanations for non-voting: psychological factors; institutional variables; electoral context variables; macro-economic trends; mobilisation variables; and a generational shift away from 'habitual voting'. Each of these trends is, in itself, limited in its capacity to satisfactorily explain non-voting. We therefore offer a synthesis of these trends to provide a fuller account of voter turnout decline in New Zealand. We argue that the literature would be usefully extended by more systemic analysis of the issue that considers political-economic restrictions to parliamentary democracy. We extend this critique by briefly noting the negative effects that trade and capital market liberalisation has had on government responsiveness to citizens. Consideration of such issues raises questions about the efficacy of parliamentary democracy in contemporary capitalism.