November 03, 2017
Maori Party ponders future
The Maori Party meets on Sunday to consider what it did wrong at the election and plot how it can regain its place in parliamentary politics.
The party formed in 2004 to protest Labour’s foreshore and seabed law won just 1.2 percent of the party vote in September’s general election and with co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell ousted in Waiariki by Labour’s Tamati Coffey it was out in the wilderness.
Tamaki Makaurau candidate Shane Taurima says since the election alot of people who were active in the early days of the party have resurfaced and it’s clear the party has a future.
"The kaupapa is the kaupapa and the kaupapa will always contiunue about Maori self-determination and whether that is in the shape of a political party or a political movement is yet to be seen. There is growing support for some form of political movement to exist and to continue to contest the Maori seats and elections," he says.
Mr Flavell has expressed his wish to retire and the executive is also expected to step down.
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