Te Pāti Māori has flipped two more electorates, unseating Labour’s Kelvin Davis and Peeni Henare in Te Tai Tokerau and Tāmaki Makaurau, respectively.
Te Tai Tokerau has gone to Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and Takutai Tarsh Kemp will represent Tāmaki Makaurau on the slimmest of margins - four votes.
The result means their caucus has tripled in size, going from two at the last election to six seats this term, the first time Te Pāti Māori has achieved such numbers in its 19-year history.
In a statement, party leader Rawiri Waititi celebrated the tripling of his party’s caucus, saying his team “are now set to grow our movement even more”.
“We mihi to the courage of te iwi Māori for believing in themselves. Our Aotearoa Hou is rising,” he said.
“We are proud that Te Tai Tokerau and Tāmaki Makaurau have given us their support. To win six of the seven Māori electorates is a huge endorsement from Tangata Whenua for our unapologetic and liberated voice.
“A new generation of Māori political leadership has arrived, and it is ready to re-indigenise politics in Aotearoa."
Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said Te Pāti Māori will “honour the unified support of Tangata Whenua by holding this incoming government to account as it threatens to attack the Te Tiriti relationship and undo the progress our people have fought so hard to achieve”.
“We will fight for oranga whenua and oranga whānau and to realise our tino rangatiratanga as Tangata Whenua. Our people will no longer accept crumbs from Pākehā parties,” she said.
“We stand on the precipice of an Aotearoa Hou. Te Pāti Māori is ready to achieve it.”
New Te Tai Tokerau MP-elect Mariameno Kapa-Kingi spoke to Jack Tame about her victory. (Source: 1News)
The final vote count has Te Pāti Māori on 3.06 per cent of the party vote which isn’t enough to reach the 5% threshold, but by securing six of the seven Māori electorates – Te Tai Tokerau, Tāmaki Makaurau, Hauraki-Waikato, Waiariki, Te Tai Hauāuru, Te Tai Tonga – they will have six members in Parliament.
The result also triggers an overhang situation where the number of parliament seats increases to 122 – and after the Port Waikato by-election, it will go up again to 123.
The only Te Pāti Māori electorate candidate not to win was Meka Whaitiri in Ikaroa Rāwhiti. She left Labour to run for Te Pāti Māori at this election.
So where does that leave Kelvin Davis and Peeni Henare?
Special votes have delivered Te Tai Tokerau and Tāmaki Makaurau to Te Pāti Māori. (Source: 1News)
Davis and Henare will both still return to Parliament as list members: Davis at 2 and Henare at 14 with Labour sitting on 34 seats.
But Davis has previously said that he would retire if he loses his seat, the NZ Herald reports. He has yet to comment on today's results.
Henare went live on social media thanking, “all voters across Tāmaki Makaurau” and that “process will take course and that discussion will be had” on the four-vote margin.
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