VOTE SMART OR VOTE WASTED?

 The Māori Party is adopting a split-vote strategy for the 2026 election. It is asking supporters to vote for its electorate candidates while giving their party vote to another party on the left.

That strategy seeks to minimise the number of party votes used to elect Māori Party MPs while maximising the number elected through the electorates. The result would be to potentially increase the total number of MPs in Parliament and, more importantly, increase the chances of a left-wing coalition.

Maori wards - Keep or remove?

 Keep or remove? That is the question being put to voters.

Supporters see Maori wards as a step towards fulfilling council’s Treaty obligations, and ensuring Maori voices are included in local decision-making.

Opponents of Maori wards see them as undermining universal representation, divisive, or unnecessary.

Disorder in the House

Parliament descended into unprecedented chaos when the Māori Party interrupted voting on the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill. Māori Party MPs confronted David Seymour with a haka that the Speaker described as "pre-mediated" and “appallingly disrespectful". Labour MPs and the public gallery joined the haka. 

To restore order the Speaker suspended Parliament and cleared the public gallery.  Willie Jackson and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke were suspended.

Everyone should now know that the Māori Party has a clear agenda to disrupt Parliament and challenge its sovereignty. In response, the public is hardening its attitude to racial activism, and some are calling for the seven Māori seats to be abolished.

Questions are being asked whether National has the backbone to stand up to the extremism. How parties respond to the activists may become a defining issue for right-leaning voters when they choose between National, NZ First, or ACT.