Napier's MTG has been forced to delay the launch of an exhibition of late MP Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan's clothing after the Electoral Commission raised concerns the display could influence voters on election day.
The exhibition features 27 items from the wardrobe of "fashion icon" Mrs Tirikatene-Sullivan who was the Labour MP for Southern Maori from 1967 to 1996.
The collection was recently gifted to the Hawke's Bay Museums Trust by the Tirikatene-Sullivan family and has never previously been displayed.
MTG director Douglas Lloyd Jenkins said the gallery had intended to launch the exhibition on election day, September 20. The date was not chosen because of Mrs Tirikatene-Sullivan's political connections but because it marked the one-year anniversary of the MTG being opened after an $18 million revamp of the former Hawke's Bay Museum and Art Gallery.
Mr Lloyd Jenkins said he sought advice from the commission and was told if the exhibition ran on election day, any reference to the Labour Party would have to be removed.