December 18, 2018
Hapū vote process questioned
A technical adviser to the Ngāpuhi evolved mandate process says the result raises questions about whether the views of hapū were captured correctly.
The final result of the individual vote was 51 percent in favour of restarting negotiations under an evolved mandate, well short of the 75 percent target set by Tūhono, which was a joint effort by Tūhoronuku, Te Kotahitanga and the crown.
The result of the hapū endorsement process seemed even more definite, with 73 hapū opposing the plan and just 31 in support.
But Willie Te Aho says that included hapū where only a handful of people voted.
He says it would have been a different story if hapū votes had been combined with how members voted individually.
"Only 21 (hapū) said they were going to include the views of our whānau not living at home or not participating in our hapū hui so you basically had over 80 percent of the people who live outside the rohe, and that is basically 80 percent of the Ngāpuhi population, whose vote didn’t count towards their hapū," Mr Te Aho says
The turnout of 19 percent of the 32,000 eligible voters is reasonable for a exercise of this kind and comparable with many local government polls.
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