Te Pāti Māori warned election strategy could put Māori seats at risk
Te Pāti Māori is facing criticism from Labour's Willie Jackson over an election strategy that encourages voters to split their ballots, potentially endangering the legitimacy of Māori seats. The party maintains the strategy is necessary to remove the current government.
Why it matters
The debate highlights internal tensions within New Zealand's left-leaning political bloc and the strategic complexities of the Māori seat system.
Te Pāti Māori is being warned its election strategy could put the Māori seats at risk.
On Sunday, Te Pāti Māori announced it would be campaigning for candidate votes only, telling voters to give their party vote to the left bloc parties such as Labour and the Greens.
The strategy could lead to the creation of an overhang, where there are more seats in Parliament.
Labour's Māori campaign chair Willie Jackson was asked on Tuesday if Te Pāti Māori's strategy risked the legitimacy of the Māori seats in the eyes of the public, to which he agreed.
Jackson said it threatened a backlash against the Māori seats that could lead to their abolition "when you start working the system like that".
He thanked the party for giving Labour more party votes, but made it clear Labour wouldn't be reciprocating in terms of the candidate vote.
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