Many changes to the country's quirky mixed-member proportional (MMP) system, voting practices and donations regime could be in the works after a two-year review.
On Tuesday, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith released the 525-page electoral review, established under Jacinda Ardern's Labour government.
Among the 117 suggestions were lowering the voting age and allowing prisoners to vote or stand for parliament: two suggestions Mr Goldsmith said were non-starters.
"A number of recommendations can be ruled out immediately, such as lowering the voting age to 16, allowing all prisoners to vote and stand for parliament," he said.
Mr Goldsmith said the government - a coalition of three right-leaning parties which took office in November - would also not be entertaining adding extra MPs as the population grew.
Another recommendation of the review - holding a referendum on four-year parliamentary terms - appears likely.
The National and ACT parties have agreed to introduce a bill to ask Kiwis their view on the matter, which also has the support of Labour leader Chris Hipkins.
This referendum has been held twice previously, most recently in 1990, and was rejected both times.
The MMP system returns MPs from single-seat electorates, like Australia, but also sends "list MPs" to parliament based on the strength of the nationwide party vote.
Parties that do not win electorates can still end up with MPs in Wellington should they hit five per cent of the party vote.
The review suggests lowering that threshold to 3.5 per cent, which would see smaller parties entering parliament.
An archaic blackout which does not allow for media reporting or campaigning on election day is also recommended for the scrap heap.
Those regulations - which are unenforceable in many cases - also forbid candidates from wearing party-affiliated clothing on election day, even in social media, and ban Kiwis from discussing the election or even asking each other how they voted.
The review also suggests a major shake-up of campaign funding and donations, with increased public funding to parties provided on a per-vote model, and larger spending limits during the campaign.
That would be balanced by limiting the amount Kiwis can donate to a party or its candidates to $NZ30,000 ($A28,000) during individuals during each parliamentary term.
During the last three-year cycle, right-leaning parties National ($NZ9 million) and ACT ($NZ5 million) banked much more than left-leaning governing parties Labour ($NZ1.4 million) and the Greens ($NZ1.5 million).
ACT leader David Seymour said the referendum was "a bright spot amid a list of otherwise dopey ideas", such as donations reform and allowing 16 year olds to vote.
"ACT thinks it's a good thing that politicians have to go out and fundraise from the community," he said.
"Only 13 per cent of Kiwis support lowering the voting age. The last thing we need is another 120,000 voters who pay no tax voting for more spending and bigger government."
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