Election 2017: The North is back to blue

National candidate Matt King was finally able to celebrate an election night win long after most seats had been decided. Photo / Peter de Graaf

It was a long night for first-time National candidate Matt King on Saturday, but, after a see-saw battle with New Zealand First incumbent Winston Peters, he finally drew away for an election night majority of 1292 votes.

With 15 per cent of votes still to be counted, Northland is now expected to return to National, which had held the seat since 1969 (after wresting it back from Social Credit) until Mr Peters took it in the 2015 by-election, following the resignation of Mike Sabin.

It was a long and anxious wait for Mr King and his supporters at Waipapa's Pioneer Tavern, however. The Northland results were among the last to come through, the Okaihau farmer and former policeman finally declaring victory at about 11.30pm.

Hone Harawira giving his thoughts to Maori Television interviewer Dean Nathan after losing his bid to unseat Kelvin Davis.

"This is killing me; this is torture," he said as the results trickled in.

Saturday night ended a "real rollercoaster" of a journey, which began when he missed out on National Party selection in 2011, he said. He lost again before the by-election, before finally succeeding in November.

As an unknown against a "rock star" opponent, he had done the hard yards, knocking on doors over the last 10 months.

He paid tribute to the support he had received, especially from his wife Sarah, while his priorities would be building infrastructure, addressing social issues and seeing Ngapuhi settle its Treaty claim.

And National would never take Northland for granted again.

Meanwhile, Mr Peters said losing the electorate was "a terrible shame", but he had given it his best shot.

"I was very privileged for a brief time to be their MP, but now I've got more time to be an MP around the country," he said.

Hone Harawira, who failed in his bid to unseat Labour deputy leader Kelvin Davis in Te Tai Tokerau, said the fight for his people would go on whether he was in Parliament or not. He was saddened by the demise of the Maori Party, however.

"That's a huge loss," he said.

"Maori no longer have an independent voice in Parliament. It's just the two major parties, who will tell their Maori MPs to shut up, these are our priorities."