Maori seats will increase by one to eight, says Turia

Tariana Turia

The Maori Party believes the number of Maori seats at the next election will increase by one to eight.

An additional 14,914 people enrolled on the Maori roll before the Maori electoral option expired last week, the Electoral Enrolment Centre announced yesterday.

Maori Party co-leaders Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples said they were delighted with the result.

"We are happy to speculate that there will be eight seats in the new Parliament," Mrs Turia said. "Our people are ready to exercise our political power."

Government Statistician Brian Pink will make an announcement on the number of Maori and general electorates by early in February.

The final calculation on the numbers is dependent on the overall population and provisions in the Electoral Act, such as the one relating to a minimum number of general seats in the South Island.

This information, together with other data from the 2006 Census, will then be used by the Representation Commission to map out the general and Maori electorate boundaries. These will apply in the 2008 and 2011 elections.

At the last election the Maori Party gained four electorate seats, more than they would have gained from their party vote alone.

This means the current Parliament has 121 seats - an "overhang" of one.

The Maori Party's gain in electorate seats came from many Maori voters giving their electorate vote to it and their party vote to Labour.

During the Maori electoral option, the Maori Party campaigned hard to get more Maori seats. It had originally hoped for more than 10, but later lowered its ambitions to one extra.

Dr Sharples said it was significant that 80 per cent of new voters enrolled on the Maori roll.

"This is a clear statement of where our young people are at. They're Maori and proud, and see a future on the Maori roll," Dr Sharples said.

The shift of some Maori to the general roll was the result of a campaign by Labour, he claimed.

"Anecdotal evidence suggests that Labour has run a concerted campaign to encourage Maori off the Maori roll in the seats where they know the Maori Party has a stronghold, or in areas where Labour seats were becoming increasingly vulnerable such as Tukituki, Gisborne, Napier - all of which they have lost - and Rotorua, which is now marginal," Dr Sharples said.

"They have effectively given up on the Maori seats, even those they currently hold, the winning margins of which were slashed by the Maori Party in the last elections," Dr Sharples said.

The option results show that 21,588 Maori changed the type of electoral roll they are on and another 10,280 Maori enrolled for the first time.


ROLL CALL

* 14,914 additional Maori voters are enrolled on the Maori roll.

* 4634 fewer Maori are on the general roll.

* 385,977 people who identified themselves as Maori are enrolled to vote.


- NZPA