Te Pāti Māori warned its candidate-vote-only strategy could put Māori seats at risk

Te Pāti Māori has been warned that its election strategy of campaigning for candidate votes only, while directing party votes to left-bloc parties, could put the Māori seats at risk, RNZ reported on 18 August.

Labour's Māori campaign chair Willie Jackson said the strategy risked the legitimacy of the Māori seats in the public eye and threatened a backlash that could lead to their abolition. He said Labour would not reciprocate Te Pāti Māori's call for candidate votes, though he thanked the party for directing more party votes Labour's way.

Jackson pointed to the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election, where Oriini Kaipara defeated Peeni Henare on the electorate vote. Henare remained in Parliament regardless, having entered on Labour's list. Jackson cited that contest as evidence the electorate-level split could produce results that undermine confidence in the Māori seat framework.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters called the strategy a "disgrace" and said it perverted the democratic system. Peters cited the Electoral Commission's original prospect that the Māori seats would be proved not to be needed.

The strategy Te Pāti Māori has outlined involves maximising Māori-roll enrolment and winning electorate seats while directing the party vote to Labour and the Greens. Because electorate seats won by a party that falls short of the party-vote threshold can still be retained, the approach could create an overhang, where the number of seats in Parliament increases beyond the standard 120.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said Jackson's comments were a "real shame" and accused him of bringing up past pains for his own campaigning. "We needed to be smarter if we're really intentional of getting this government out," she said. She described Labour and Te Pāti Māori as "different movements" and said the party was "utilising the power of the Māori roll" and rules within MMP that other parties had used.

Greens co-leader Marama Davidson said there had never been an agreement or strategy between the Greens and Te Pāti Māori. The Greens would back their own candidates in the Māori electorates, she said, adding that the best approach was for all parties and candidates to put their ideas before voters to decide.

The strategy builds on a thread Te Pāti Māori has been developing across the term. At its campaign launch in Gisborne on 16 August, Ngārewa-Packer pointed to the growing number of Māori on the Māori electoral roll as the force to roll the coalition. Earlier, in June, she said the strategy was "to get as many Māori on the Māori roll." The party has also flagged running candidates in general seats, a departure from its previous Māori-electorate focus.

Te Pāti Māori has framed the approach around mobilising the Māori roll as a lever to change the government. Following the 2023 election, the party secured four Māori electorates. In late 2025, co-leaders Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi said the next year would be "tough" but insisted "there is no left bloc without Te Pāti Māori."

The party has had a strained relationship with parts of the broader Māori political movement over the same period. It cut ties with Toitū Te Tiriti in October 2025 before reassuring members it still supported the movement. Leaders also abruptly ended a media stand-up that month, with Ngarewa-Packer saying, "We're here to talk to you about everything, but... we're not getting that respect back."

The central political tension is that the strategy pits two goals against each other: maximising Māori-roll mobilisation and left-bloc coordination, versus the perceived legitimacy of the Māori seats themselves. Jackson's argument is that an overhang produced by design invites a political reaction that could target the seats' existence. Ngarewa-Packer's counter is that the MMP rules are available to any party and that the Māori roll is a legitimate base of political power.

With Labour declining to direct its voters toward Te Pāti Māori candidates, the Greens running their own candidates in the Māori electorates, and New Zealand First framing the overhang as anti-democratic, the strategy leaves Te Pāti Māori asking supporters to split their votes without a reciprocal arrangement from any potential coalition partner.