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Benn Bathgate / Stuff
Waiariki’s electorate provided a rollercoaster night for Labor’s Tamati Coffey, who said he was not yet ready to give up the seat he has held for the past three years.
A defiant Tamati Coffey has claimed that “the race is not over yet” for Waiariki’s electorate, despite the 421-vote lead of Maori party rival Rawiri Waititi over the Labor candidate.
It was a rollercoaster night for Coffey and his supporters gathered at Our House restaurant on Rotorua’s Eat St on Saturday night, a night that began with Coffey saying he was “pretty sure” of his chances.
For the first hour or so, his prediction was focused on money, until the tide started to turn and Waititi took first place. Throughout the night, while the votes were being counted, the margin between the two men remained slim – at one point in the count, Coffey was just one vote behind.
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Coffey said he is ready to return to the Beehive anyway thanks to Labor’s landslide victory and his position on the list, but the closeness of the two men has convinced him the game is not over yet.
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“We will wait until everything is settled. I’m not quite ready to concede yet, ”he said.
“It’s still tight and we have special votes, and in the last election I did quite well with the special votes. I’m not ready to call this “.
Benn Bathgate / Stuff
Tamati Coffey’s supporters continued to support their man, even as he slipped to second place in the Waiariki contest.
He said Labor had delivered for the people of Waiariki and he was “absolutely thrilled to have gotten back with a Labor government.”
When asked if he had any advice for Waititi should he take the Waiariki seat, Coffey said: “I don’t think he’s quite there.”
However, he aimed a farewell shot at his rival from the Maori party.
“We have been able to offer a lot for the people of Waiariki, it is difficult to get rid of the opposition, that is all I will say.”
