New allegiances add intrigue on trail

NZ First leader Winston Peters was making the most of his last 48 hours of campaigning in Kaikohe's New World yesterday, accompanied by former Labour Minister of Maori Affairs Dover Samuels. Here the new allies check out Kaikohe mum Troy Munroe's choice of groceries. Photo / Peter de Graaf

It was a day of political intrigue and shifting allegiances in Northland yesterday, with Mana Party leader Hone Harawira saying he was fighting for his political life and NZ First's Winston Peters using a lightning tour of the Far North to throw his weight behind Labour's Te Tai Tokerau candidate Kelvin Davis.

Meanwhile, Maori Party candidate the Rev Te Hira Paenga, who is also contesting the crucial Te Tai Tokerau seat, quashed suggestions he was also going to endorse Mr Davis to stop Kim Dotcom's Internet Party getting into Parliament on the back of Mr Harawira's seat - but then seemed to suggest voters should do exactly that.

Mr Paenga said the people of Te Tai Tokerau wanted "a place at the table" giving them access to the resources they needed to grow their stagnant economy, so he had no intention of stepping aside. Then he continued, apparently having it both ways: "There is a need to strategically vote in the electorate, in order to ensure that we remove the blot on our democracy, but let me state right now, clearly and for the record, the Reverend is keeping the faith."

Mr Peters, who was basking in polls suggesting his party could get as many as nine seats, shook hands and kissed cheeks from Kaitaia to Kawakawa yesterday. The NZ First leader's meeting with Mr Davis on the campaign trail in Paihia was no coincidence. Mr Davis was "number one candidate for Te Tai Tokerau ... the man to vote for", Mr Peters said.

Also making no secret of his new allegiance was one-time Labour Minister Dover Samuels, who was accompanying Mr Peters on the campaign trail. He said Labour had abandoned its traditional values so his party vote would go to NZ First, but he was casting his electorate vote for Mr Davis to keep Kim Dotcom's party out. Te Tai Tokerau voters would "not be sucked in" by the Internet-Mana marriage, he said.

"Dotcom's so far removed from the issues of Tai Tokerau Maori, he could be on another planet."

But Mr Harawira appeared energised by what could be the fight of his political career, with a poll earlier this week showing Mr Davis just 1 per cent behind him. He held three public meetings in Northland, travelling on his Mana bus and surrounded by supporters, telling a meeting Te Piiti Marae in Omanaia that the Maori Party was considering telling its supporters to vote for Mr Davis - a day after Prime Minister John Key said he was comfortable with National supporters doing so.

"Things have just got real tough for me ... [but] the fight for this seat has just become the kind I really like, which is us against the rest."