Te Pāti Māori Names One-Person List for 2026 Election

Te Pāti Māori has put a single name on its party list for the 2026 General Election. General Secretary Lance Norman is the sole ranked candidate beyond its electorate candidates, the party confirmed on 4 October. RNZ

The party said Norman was chosen unanimously. Apart from him, the list has no other names outside its candidates for the seven Māori electorates. The party said it is backing seven candidates to win those seats.

Under MMP, each voter gets two votes. One elects the local MP. The other is for a party and decides how many seats each party gets in Parliament. Te Pāti Māori is asking voters on the Māori roll to split them.

The party said the short list confirms that candidate-vote strategy. It said it was putting its "money where its mouth is". Co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer asked supporters to give their electorate vote to Te Pāti Māori and their party vote to the Greens or Labour. Co-leader Rawiri Waititi said the approach could bring up to 13 Māori MPs into Parliament.

Labour's Māori campaign chair Willie Jackson criticised the strategy. He said it risked a backlash against the Māori seats that could lead to their abolition, according to the announcement.

The list was released on Sunday morning ahead of the November election. Stuff The party had signalled the plan in August, when it said it would campaign only to win the Māori seats rather than for the party vote in 2026. NZ Herald

Its current MPs are listed as Oriini Kaipara, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi. Maipi-Clarke, Kaipara and Waititi are confirmed as candidates for 2026.

The broader context here is familiar to Press Gallery watchers. A one-person list works like a signpost. It tells voters on the Māori roll exactly how the party wants them to use their two votes, and it tells possible coalition partners where Te Pāti Māori will and will not chase party votes.

In my view, the friction points are clear. Ngarewa-Packer is directing party votes to Labour and the Greens while asking for electorate votes in return. Waititi talks of lifting Māori representation across parties to 13 MPs. Jackson warns the tactic puts the Māori seats at risk. The test is whether voters split their votes in that disciplined way on election day, and whether Labour accepts an arrangement where it gives way in the electorates but gains on the party vote.