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InNew Zealand politics,Māori electorates, colloquially known as theMāori seats (Māori:ngā tūru Māori),[1] are a special category ofelectorate that givereserved positions to representatives ofMāori in theNew Zealand Parliament. Every area in New Zealand is covered by both a general and a Māori electorate; as of 2020, there are seven Māori electorates.[2][3] Since 1967,candidates in Māori electorates have not needed to be Māori themselves, but to register as avoter in the Māori electorates people need to declare that they are of Māori descent.[4]
The Māori electorates were introduced in 1867 under the Maori Representation Act.[5] They were created in order to give Māori a more direct say in parliament. Thefirst Māori elections were held in the following year during the term of the4th New Zealand Parliament. The electorates were intended as a temporary measure lasting five years but were extended in 1872 and made permanent in 1876.[6] Despite numerous attempts to dismantle Māori electorates, they continue to form a distinctive feature of the New Zealand political system.[7]
Māori electorates operate much as do general electorates, but have as electors people who areMāori, or of Māori descent, (seeMāori people § Demographics) and who choose to place their names on a separateelectoral roll rather than on the "general roll".
There are two features of the Māori electorates that make them distinct from the general electorates. First, there are a number of skills that are essential for candidates to have in order to engage with their constituencies and ensure a clear line of accountability to representing the 'Māori voice'. This includes proficiency inte reo Māori, knowledge oftikanga Māori,whakawhanaungatanga skills and confidence on themarae. Second, the geographical size of the Māori electoral boundaries vary significantly from the general electorates. Five to 18 general electorates fit into any one Māori electorate.[8]
Māori electoral boundaries are superimposed over the electoral boundaries used for general electorates; thus every part of New Zealand simultaneously belongs both in a general seat and in a Māori seat. Shortly after each census all registered Māori electors have the opportunity to choose whether they are included on the Māori or general electorate rolls.[9] Since 31 March 2023, Māori electors have been able to change rolls at any time, except in the three months preceding a general or local election or after a notice of vacancy is issued for a by-election.[2] Each five-yearly census and Māori Electoral Option determines the number of Māori electorates for the next one or two elections.
Māori electorates were created in 1867 during the term of the4th Parliament with the Maori Representation Act, drafted byNapier member of parliamentDonald McLean.[7] Parliament passed the act after lengthy debate, and during a period of warfare between the government and some North Island Māorihapū; it was seen as a way to reduce conflict between cultures.[10][11] Its primary aim was to enfranchise Māori who were indirectly excluded from parliament by the land ownership requirement that applied in New Zealand at that time. To vote, a person had to be male, a subject of the monarch, have title to land worth at least 25 pounds, and not be in prison. Very few Māori qualified because of theproperty qualification — the land they owned was held in common and not by Crown grant: native title was not accepted as a way to assert a right to the franchise. Concern was raised that, indirectly, this ran contrary to section III of theTreaty of Waitangi which made all Māori subjects of the monarch with corresponding voting and representation rights.[8][12] The act originally agreed to set up four electorates specially for Māori; three in the North Island and one covering the whole South Island. The four seats were a fairly modest concession on a per-capita basis at the time.[13] Some MPs, such asJames FitzGerald, regarded the concessions given to Māori as insufficient, while others disagreed. In the end, the setting up of Māori electorates separate from existing electorates assuaged the conservative opposition to the bill. The bill was intended as a temporary measure, giving specific representation to Māori until the land ownership issue was resolved. However, the Māori seats continued and have become a permanent feature of the New Zealand parliament.[14][13]
The first four Māori members of parliament, elected in1868, wereTāreha Te Moananui (Eastern Maori),Frederick Nene Russell (Northern Maori) andJohn Patterson (Southern Maori), who all retired in 1870; andMete Kīngi Te Rangi Paetahi (Western Maori) who was defeated in 1871. These four men were the first New Zealand-born members of the New Zealand Parliament.[15] The second four members wereKaraitiana Takamoana (Eastern Maori);Wi Katene (Northern Maori);Hōri Kerei Taiaroa (Southern Maori); andWiremu Parata (Western Maori).[16]
The first Māori woman MP wasIriaka Rātana, who represented the Western Maori electorate. LikeElizabeth McCombs, New Zealand's first woman MP, Rātana won the seat in a by-election caused by the death of her husbandMatiu in 1949.[17]
Currently Māori elections are held as part ofNew Zealand general elections, but in the past such elections took place separately, on different days (usually the day before the vote for general electorates) and under different rules. Historically, less organisation went into holding Māori elections than general elections, and the process received fewer resources. Māori electorates at first did not require registration for voting, which was later introduced. New practices such aspaper ballots (as opposed to casting one's vote verbally) andsecret ballots also came later to elections for Māori electorates than to general electorates.
The authorities frequently delayed or overlooked reforms of the Māori electoral system, with Parliament considering the Māori electorates as largely unimportant. The gradual improvement of Māori elections owes much to long-serving Māori MPEruera Tirikatene, who himself experienced problems in his own election. From theelection of 1951 onwards, the voting for Māori and general electorates was held on the same day.[18]
Confusion around the Māori electorates during the 2017 general election was revealed in a number of complaints to the Electoral Commission. Complaints included Electoral Commission staff at polling booths being unaware of the Māori roll and insisting electors were unregistered when their names did not appear on the general roll; Electoral Commission staff giving incorrect information about the Māori electorates; electors being given incorrect voting forms and electors being told they were unable to vote forTe Pāti Māori (the Māori Party) unless they were on the Māori roll.[19]
In June 2022, theJustice MinisterKris Faafoi of the incumbentLabour Party introduced a bill to allow people of Māori descent to switch between the general and Māori electoral rolls at any time. At the time, Māori were only allowed to switch between the two rolls every five years. To pass into law, the bill needed 75% majority support in Parliament. In addition, Māori Party co-leaderRawiri Waititi introduced a member's bill which proposed automatically placing Māori on the Māori electoral roll and renaming the "general electoral district" the "non-Māori electoral district."[20]
On 15 November 2022, the oppositionNational Party abandoned its opposition to the Māori Electoral Option bill after theLabour Government agreed to allow people of Māori descent to switch between the general and Māori rolls at any time except the three month period before general and local elections; giving the Government the 75% majority need to pass the bill into law. Te Pāti Māori criticised the compromise, with Waititi and fellow co-leaderDebbie Ngarewa-Packer describing the changes as "second-rate" and a "half pie ka pai" respectively. Waititi's member bill had already been voted down in early November.[21]
TheElectoral (Māori Electoral Option) Legislation Act 2022 came into force on 31 March 2023; allowing people of Māori descent to switch between the general and Māori rolls at anytime until the three month period before elections. TheElectoral Commission subsequently launched a campaign to encourage non-voters to register with either the general or Māori rolls.[22] For the2023 New Zealand general election, the cutoff date was set at midnight 13 July 2023.[23] By 3 July 2023, over 12,000 people had switched between the Māori and general rolls; with 6,662 people shifting from the general to Māori rolls and 5,652 switching vice versa.[24] Political expert and academic Rawiri Taonui and journalist Tommy de Silva described that the increase of voters on the Māori roll as a form of strategic voting that reinforced the relevance of the Māori seats and Māori vote to New Zealand politics.[25][26]
By 11 July 2025, the Electoral Commission confirmed that almost 31,000 voters had switched to the Māori electoral roll while over 25,000 first time voters had registered with the Māori roll. By contrast, about 20,000 Māori descent voters had switched to the general roll while 17,000 new Māori voters had registered with the general roll. Commission chief Māori advisor Hone Matthews credited the 2022 law change with removing a barrier for Māori voters and boosting their electoral engagement.[27] On 31 July, Te Pāti Māori filed urgentHigh Court proceedings calling on the Electoral Commission,Ministry of Justice and the Ombudsman to investigate reports that Māori voters had been removed from the Māori electoral roll or shifted to the general roll without their consent.[28]
There have been calls for the abolition of the Māori electorates.
In 1953, re-alignment of Māori electoral boundaries occurred. In the 1950s the practice of reserving electorates for Māori was described by some politicians "as a form of 'apartheid', like in South Africa".[29]
In 1967, the electoral system whereby four electorate seats were reserved for representatives who were specifically Māori ended. Following the Electoral Amendment Act 1967, the 100-year-old disqualification preventing Europeans from standing as candidates in Māori electorates was removed. Simultaneously, the act allowed Māori to stand in general electorates.[30]
In 1976, theNational Government introduced the option for Māori to decide whether to enrol individually on the general electoral roll or the Māori roll.[31] A large number of people (Māori and non-Māori) failed to fill out an electoral re-registration card that was distributed with the1976 census, with census staff lacking authority to insist on the card being completed. This had little practical effect for non-Māori, but it transferred Māori to the general roll if the card was not handed in.[31]
Hobson's Pledge, a lobby group founded byDon Brash, a former senior politician, advocates abolishing the allocated Māori electorates, seeing them as outdated.[32] Other parties' positions on abolition or reform are detailed below.
TheNational Party has advocated abolition of the Māori electorates, though as of 2023[update] the party is not opposed to the seats. National did not stand candidates in Māori electorate from the 2005 election through the 2020 election.Bill English, the party's leader in 2003, said that "the purpose of the Māori seats has come to an end", and in 2004 party leaderDon Brash called the electorates an "anachronism".[33] National announced in 2008 it would abolish the electorates when all historictreaty settlements have been resolved, which it aimed to complete by 2014.[34] In 2014 though, then-Prime MinisterJohn Key ruled out the abolition, saying he would not do it even if he had the numbers to do so as there would be "hikois from hell".[35] In 2020, party leaderJudith Collins said "I am not opposed to the Māori seats. The National Party has had a view for many years now that they should be done away with. But I just want people to feel that they all have opportunities for representation".[36]
TheACT Party opposes the Māori electorates. Its leader,David Seymour, has called for their abolition as recently as 2019.[37]
New Zealand First, whose "Tight Five" once held all Māori seats, has advocated for abolition of the separate electorates, while emphasising that the decision should be made by Māori voters. During the2017 election campaign, the New Zealand First leaderWinston Peters announced that if elected his party would hold a binding referendum on whether Maori electorates should be abolished.[38] During post-election negotiations with the Labour Party, Peters indicated that he would consider dropping his call for a referendum on the Māori electorates due to the defeat of theMāori Party at the 2017 election.[39] In return for forming a government with theLabour Party, New Zealand First agreed to drop its demand for the referendum.[40][41]
The party has not stood candidates in the Māori electorates since the1999 New Zealand general election.
From 1868 to 1996, four Māori electorates existed (out of a total that slowly changed from 76 to 99).[42] They comprised:[43]
With the introduction of theMMP electoral system after 1993, the rules regarding the Māori electorates changed. Today, the number of electorates floats, meaning that the electoral population of a Māori seat can remain roughly equivalent to that of a general seat. For the1996 election, the first under MMP, the Electoral Commission defined five Māori electorates:
Major changes were made and a sixth Māori electorate was added for the second MMP election in1999:
Since2002, there have been seven Māori electorates. For the 2002 and2005 elections, these were:
From2008, Tainui was largely replaced by Hauraki-Waikato, giving the following seven Māori electorates:
While seven out of 72 (9.7%) does not nearly reflect the proportion of voting-age New Zealanders who identify as being of Māori descent (about 14.8%), many Māori choose to enrol in general electorates, so the proportion reflects the proportion of voters on the Māori roll.
For maps showing broad electoral boundaries, see selected links to individual elections atNew Zealand elections.
FormerMāori Party co-leaderPita Sharples proposed in 2007 the creation of an additional Maori electorate, forMāori living in Australia; there are between 115,000 and 125,000 Māori in Australia, the majority living inQueensland.[44]
As Māori electorates originated before the development ofpolitical parties in New Zealand, all early Māori MPs functioned asindependents. When theLiberal Party formed, however, Māori MPs began to align themselves with the new organisation, with either Liberal candidates or Liberal sympathisers as representatives. Māori MPs in the Liberal Party includedJames Carroll,Āpirana Ngata andTe Rangi Hīroa. There were also Māori MPs in the more conservative and ruralReform Party;Māui Pōm,Taurekareka Hēnare andTaite Te Tomo.
Since theLabour Party first came to power in1935, however, it has dominated the Māori electorates. For a long period this dominance owed much to Labour's alliance with theRātana Church, although the Rātana influence has diminished in recent times. In the1993 election, however, the newNew Zealand First party, led byWinston Peters – who himself held the general seat ofTauranga from 1984 to 2005 – gained the Northern Māori seat (electingTau Henare to Parliament), and in the1996 election New Zealand First captured all the Māori electorates for one electoral term. Labour regained the electorates in the following election in the1999 election.[8]
A development of particular interest to Māori came in 2004 with the resignation ofTariana Turia from her ministerial position in the Labour-dominated coalition and from herTe Tai Hauāuru parliamentary seat. Inthe resulting by-election on 10 July 2004, standing under the banner of the newly formedMāori Party, she received over 90% of the 7,000-plus votes cast. The parties then represented in Parliament had not put up official candidates in the by-election. The new party's support in relation to Labour therefore remained untested at the polling booth.[45]
The Māori Party aimed to win all seven Māori electorates in2005. AMarae-Digipoll survey of Māori-roll voters in November 2004 gave it hope: 35.7% said they would vote for a Māori Party candidate, 26.3% opted for Labour, and five of the seven electorates appeared ready to fall to the new party.[46] In the election, the new party won four of the Māori electorates. It seemed possible that Māori Party MPs could play a role in the choice and formation of a governing coalition, and they conducted talks with theNational Party. In the end they remained in Opposition.[47]
Similarly in2008, the Māori Party aimed to win all seven Māori electorates. However, in the election, they managed to increase their four electorates only to five. Although the National government had enough MPs to govern without the Māori Party, it invited the Māori Party to support their minority government on confidence and supply in return for policy concessions and two ministerial posts outside of Cabinet. The Māori Party signed a confidence and supply agreement with National on the condition that the Māori electorates were not abolished unless the Māori voters agreed to abolish them. Other policy concessions including a review of theForeshore and Seabed Act 2004, a review of New Zealand's constitutional arrangements, and the introduction of theWhānau Ora indigenous health initiative.[48]
Discontentment with the Māori Party's support agreement with National particularly theMarine and Coastal Areas Bill 2011 led the party'sTe Tai Tokerau MemberHone Harawira to secede from the Māori Party and form the radical left-wingMana Movement. During the2011 general election, the Māori Party retained three of the Māori electorates while Labour increased its share of the Māori electorates to three, takingTe Tai Tonga. The Mana Movement retained Te Tai Tokerau. Tensions between the Māori Party and Mana Movement combined with competition from the Labour Party fragmented the Māori political voice in Parliament.[49][50]
In the2014 election, Mana Movement leader Hone Harawira formed an electoral pact with theInternet Party, founded by controversial Internet entrepreneurKim Dotcom and led by formerAlliance MPLaila Harré known asInternet MANA. Hone was defeated by Labour candidateKelvin Davis, who was tacitly endorsed by the ruling National Party, New Zealand First, and the Māori Party.[51][52][53][54] During the 2014 election, Labour captured six of the Māori electorates with the Māori Party being reduced to co-leaderTe Ururoa Flavell'sWaiariki electorate.[55] The Māori Party managed to bring a second member co-leaderMarama Fox into Parliament as theirparty vote entitled them to one further list seat.[56]
During the2017 general election, the Māori Party formed an electoral pact with theMana Movement leader and former Māori Party MPHone Harawira not to contestTe Tai Tokerau as part of a deal to regain the Māori electorates from the Labour Party.[57] Despite these efforts, Labour captured all seven of the Māori electorates with Labour candidateTāmati Coffey unseating Māori Party co-leader Flavell in Waiariki.[58]
Three years later, despite a historic landslide to the Labour party, Māori party candidateRawiri Waititi successfully unseated Coffey, returning the Māori Party – now calling itself Te Pāti Māori – to Parliament.Special votes raised Te Pāti Māori's party vote from a provisional result of 1%[59] to a final party vote of 1.2%, thus allowing co-leader,Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, to enter Parliament as a List MP.[60]
Following the2023 general election, Te Pāti Māori won a record six of the seven Māori electorates, unseating Labour from all but one of the seats.[61]
The scheme has inspired some policymakers as a potential solution for underrepresentedindigenous peoples.[62]
In 1995, MLCFranca Arena moved theParliament of New South Wales to an inquiry and report on the idea of providing seats dedicated to people of Aboriginal background, modelled on the Māori electorates, to improve the representation ofIndigenous Australians in that parliament.[63] The Standing Committee on Social Issues, of which she was not part, released a report on the merits of the system in November 1998.[64] The report is said to have been well-researched, with a thorough discussion of the system's mechanics, and through which paths it could come to fruition.[65] The NSW Government members, however, did not conclude the proposal appropriate and leaned towards other measures to facilitate Aboriginal representation.[64]
Another report was released in 2003 by theLegislative Assembly of Queensland's Legal, Constitutional and Administrative Review Committee,[65] as part of an inquiry on how to improve indigenousself-determination. The idea of dedicated seats in the State Parliament, while deemed to have potential to assist reconciliation efforts, was not recommended in the final report due to strong opposition from some members of the committee.[65]
In the 1950s and 1960s the National government occasionally talked of abolishing theMāori seats. Some politicians described special representation as a form of 'apartheid', like in South Africa.
