Listen Now: 
Download AudioNational’s candidate for Te Tai Hauauru, Harete Hipango, says Māori need to party vote strategically to avoid post-election coalition chaos.
The race for the seat is close between Labour’s Soraya Peke-Mason and Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer but a Curia Research Whakaata Māori poll put Ms Hipango at 12 percent – which she says reflects the number of conservative Māori voters who have been wanting a candidate to back in the Māori seats.
Her only chance of getting back to parliament is a high party vote – and that’s crucial for National overall so it doesn’t have to cut a deal with New Zealand First’s Winston Peters.
“To avoid that tension that would come about in any type of relationship – to party vote National, so that we do have
that clarity and we don’t have those tensions and those difficulties and those struggles that would be associated with coalition,” Ms Hipango says.
RELATED NEWS
