Two ex-Te Pati Māori MPs stand under new banners in Māori electorates

Two former Te Pati Māori MPs have left the party and are standing as incumbents under different banners, according to RNZ. Te Pati Māori started the parliamentary term with six of the seven Māori electorates.

Mariameno Kapa-Kingi is standing in Te Tai Tokerau, and Tākuta Ferris is standing in Te Tai Tonga. Both were Te Pati Māori MPs before leaving the party.

Te Pati Māori is campaigning for the electorate vote alone. The electorate vote picks a local MP, and the party is telling its supporters to vote for the Greens or Labour. RNZ reported that the party is telling supporters to vote for the Greens or Labour.

Whakaata Māori polls showed Te Pati Māori candidates leading in four of the seven Māori electorates, Labour leading in two and the Greens leading in one. In Hauraki-Waikato, Te Pati Māori candidate Hana Maipi-Clarke held 45 percent of the candidate vote in polling.

RNZ deputy political editor Craig McCulloch described Te Tai Tokerau as the least predictable electorate in the country.

Former Labour candidate Kerrin Leoni resigned from the party after controversy over her visit to a Mongrel Mob function. Three days later she announced she would stand as an independent in Tāmaki Makaurau, the Auckland Māori electorate. She has said she will sit as an independent MP if she wins the seat, according to NZ Herald and Te Ao News.

The wider election has 71 electorates: 64 general electorates and seven Māori electorates. The number of Māori electorates is unchanged at seven. The electorate calculations were made using the results of the 2023 Census, according to the Electoral Commission.

Seventeen registered parties are contesting the election, with 530 candidates, according to a Electoral Commission announcement made on 9 October. More than 220 Whare Pōti Māori voting places have been set up, including 67 bilingual reo rua voting places, the Commission said in a separate announcement on 7 October.

Party leaders' campaigning on 29 October ended with TVNZ's Kaupapa Māori Debate.