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As the Maori Party and Mana talk about working together to shore up their combined support, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is counting on disaffected Maori voters coming back to his fold.
New Zealand First won all five Maori seats in the first MMP election, but no longer contests them because it objects to separate seats.
But Mr Peters says that doesn’t seem to affect its appeal among tangata whenua, and more than 40 percent of New Zealand First’s board are Maori.
"We’ve managed to form a party with strong Maori backing still and I think it will be far stronger this election given the debacle of the Maori Party and others when it comes to Maori interests in this country – jobs, housing, edcuation, a decent health system, that's what Maori want and that's what we have always remained focused on," he says.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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