Maori and Mana parties agree election tactics deal

The Maori and Mana parties have sealed a long-expected tactical arrangement to try to ensure that both parties win at least one Maori electorate each in the September 23 general election.

As foreshadowed, the Maori Party will stand aside in the far north Maori electorate of Te Tai Tokerau, where Mana Party leader Hone Harawira was defeated by Labour's Kelvin Davis by 743 votes in the 2014 election – a margin that would have been eradicated if the Maori Party hadn't stood and its 2,300 votes had fallen to Harawira.

In return, Mana will not contest any of the remaining six Maori seats – a deal that Mr Harawira had shown some distaste for when asked about it at the annual Ratana commemorations late last month.

Maori party president Tukoroirangi Morgan said the deal was intended to "collectivise our efforts to reclaim all the seats from Labour."

The only Maori electorate not held by Labour is Waiariki, held by the Maori party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell, who was also able to bring in one other MP, Marama Fox, from the party list after the Maori party won 1.32% of the party vote in 2014. Both the Mana and Maori parties will still contest the party vote.

The pact is significant because current opinion polling shows the National Party would need two or more Maori Party MPs to win seats in September if it is to avoid having to avoid with the New Zealand First party. The first OneNews Colmar Brunton poll this year was published last night, showing National had slipped four%age points to 46% support, Labour was up three points to 30%, and NZ First would hold the balance of power because National's minor party allies, the United Future, Act, and Maori parties would only win one seat each, leaving the government two seats short of a parliamentary majority.

Late last year, the Maori party was talking up the prospects of snaring several high-profile candidates, with Ms Fox bringing former union leader and talkshow host Willie Jackson to the annual Press Gallery Christmas party. However, Mr Jackson threw in his lot with Labour earlier this month, in exchange for a high list ranking, while the party's attempts to woo Mark Solomon, chairman of the Iwi Leaders Group and a former head of the powerful South Island iwi, Ngai Tahu, were unsuccessful. Howie Tamati, a former rugby league star, is the party's biggest catch to date, standing for Te Tai Hauauru.

As a list MP, Ms Fox is vulnerable to the Maori party polling below the 1.26% party vote threshold that guarantees two seats in Parliament if one is an electorate seat, because she is standing in Ikaroa-Rawhiti, currently represented by one of Labour's stronger-performing Maori MPs, Meka Whaitiri.

For its part, Mana was wiped out in the 2014 election by its marriage of convenience with the Internet Party formed by fugitive internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom.

(BusinessDesk)