February 28, 2024
Tauranga Māori look at strategic voting
A member of Tauranga City Council’s tangata whenua committee, Buddy Mikaere says Māori are looking at voting strategically in local body elections in July.
For the past three years the city has been run by commissioners, but the previous council had voted narrowly to set up a Māori ward.
Buddy Mikaere says with one Māori seat guaranteed, many Māori are considering switching to general roll.
“So the korero going around is why don’t a lot of us come off the Maori roll because we are guaranteed a Maori sea anyway, go onto the general roll, vote in the local elections and then go onto the Maori roll after to see if we can get more Maori into council,” he says.
Mr Mikaere says the general election showed young Māori were getting involved in the political process, so it will be interesting to see if it happens at the local body level as well.