Maori voters to make a choice

New Zealanders of Maori descent have a four-month window to get themselves on or off the Maori electoral roll.

That opportunity only comes up every five or more years - the last time was in 2006. This year it finishes on July 24.

In 1997, 2001 and 2006 more people moved from the general roll to the Maori roll than in the other direction.

The numbers on the Maori roll, coupled with numbers in the 2013 census, will determine how many Maori and general electorates there are in the central government election next year, and also where the electorate boundaries are.

Parliament currently has seven Maori seats. If all Maori were on the Maori roll - rather than the present 58 per cent - there would be between 13 and 15 Maori seats, Te Tai Hauauru MP Tariana Turia said in a recent column.

That could give Maori more political leverage "to enact the thread of idealism that we need to build nationhood - and to advance the aspirations of tangata whenua", she said.

At the moment there are 6193 on the Maori roll within the boundaries of the general Whanganui electorate, 4979 within the the Taranaki/King Country electorate and 4724 within the Rangitikei electorate. The regions with the most Maori roll voters are Northland, Rotorua and the East Coast.

The country has 424,000 people of Maori descent who are registered to vote, and 234,000 of those are on the Maori roll.

The Maori seats in Parliament date back to 1867. They were limited to four until after 1993, when electoral law was changed so that the number of seats could reflect the number on the Maori roll.

To get a Maori electoral option pack, freetext your name and address to 3676, go to www.elections.org.nz, visit any PostShop or call 0800 36 76 56.