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A judicial recount starts in Auckland today of votes in Te Tai Tokerau.
Mana leader Hone Harawira, who lost the seat to Labour’s Kelvin Davis by 739 votes, says he sought the recount because he was concerned at the large number of rejected votes.
He says he wants to restore credibility to the electoral process in the north and other Maori electorates.
Specials votes favoured Mr Harawira, but there weren’t enough to overturn the result.
He says substantial improvements are needed before the next election to ensure Maori people’s basic rights are respected and their participation in the democratic process is encouraged and affirmed.
A few days before the last month’s election he complained about what he saw was Maori voters being poorly treated by electoral commission officials when they tried to vote early.
Mr Davis says Mr Harawira has a legal right to seek a recount.
He doesn’t share his concerns about the treatment of voters.
"I can’t see that being an issue but he obviously does see that as an issue so you have to leave it at that and trust that the process will go through whatever it has to do and that on Saturday the result will be confirmed," Mr Davis says,
The Electoral Commission says 28,971 special votes were disallowed across the country, most of them because the voter was not registered in an electorate
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