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The Maori Party has requested a recount of two Maori seats, despite having no problem with the final results.
Maori Party Chairman Che Wilson said the party had no dispute with the final results in the two electorates of Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) and Te Tai Hauāuru (spanning Tirau to Porirua), which both won.
However, he said the party had problems with the way Whānau were treated at the polls and wanted to highlight prejudice against Maori trying to vote.
Wilson said that some Maori voters were forced to cast special votes at polling stations, and that difficulties in casting a vote meant that some simply left before voting.
ROBERT KITCHEN / THINGS / Things
Maori party MP Rawiri Waititi won the Waiariki electorate.
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There are seven Maori seats, and Labor won six of them in the 2020 elections.
Wilson was critical of the current rules, which only allow Maori to switch to the Maori role every five years. He said this was discriminatory and that the party would seek support throughout Parliament to change it.
He said that the 5 percent threshold for entering Parliament was unattainable for any indigenous party, and should be cut in half for Maori seats.
He said the recount requests were submitted Wednesday.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Auckland Labor MP Peeni Henare was appointed Defense Minister after retaining his post.
A district court judge would oversee the process and begin a recount within three days of receiving the request.
The judge will inform all affected parties when and where the recount will take place, he said.
The Maori party candidate for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi, won his seat, which covers the Bay of Plenty and South Waikato, returning the party to Parliament.
She was joined by party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer on the party roster after the special votes were counted and the final results published.
Warwick Smith / Stuff
West Coast Labor MP Adrian Rurawhe, who won the electorate over Debbie Ngarewa-Packer of the Maori Party.
Former Maori Party co-leader John Tamihere unsuccessfully defended Auckland against Labor incumbent Peeni Henare. Henare won by 965 votes in the final result.
Ngarewa-Packer lost Te Tai Hauāuru to Labor incumbent Adrian Rurawhe by 1,035 votes in the final tally.
The 2020 elections attracted the highest turnout in the Maori electorates, 69.1%, since 1999.
A spokeswoman for the Electoral Commission said that she had been informed that the Maori Party candidates had submitted requests to the court for recounts in the two electorates.
He said there was a legal process to follow and that the commission could not comment further.
The count would take three to five days, he said.
