The Green Party’s Waiariki candidate, Tania Waikato, is defending a voter enrolment campaign that features images of young Māori women in bikinis and shirtless Māori men.
The campaign, aimed at encouraging people aged 18 to 25 to enrol and vote, has drawn sharp criticism from several politicians, including New Zealand First MP Shane Jones.
“It seems as if Tania Waikato is pursuing exhibitionism,” Jones remarked.
Unfazed, Waikato says she is focusing instead on the support the campaign had generated online, including from Māori registering on the Māori roll.
She said one response, from a person who had switched to the Māori roll for the first time, stood out among the criticism.
“A person who had been adopted and didn’t know they were Māori until they were in their 30’s. And she wrote and said that because of the campaign she finally switched to the Māori roll, because she felt like she was Māori enough,” she says
“Having someone like that reclaim their whakapapa and feel like they can stand up as Māori this election made all of it worth it.”
Electoral Roll Deadlines Approach
Recent changes to electoral law have tightened restrictions on when voters can switch between the general and Māori rolls, setting a strict deadline of August 7.
The Electoral Amendment Bill passed last year also ended same-day enrolment, barred prisoners from voting and required people to enrol at least 13 days before the election.
Waikato acknowledged the campaign wasn’t designed for a traditional political audience. Instead, it was crafted to connect with politically disengaged youth and encourage them to enrol and vote.
Engagement across her social media platforms had been significant.
“The key stat for me is that we are now over 3500 people that have clicked through to the vote.nz website. That’s the only metric that we can track through socials. We can’t tell how many of them actually enrolled or what they did once they got there. But the fact that 3500 people have actually clicked on the link and gone through the website for me is worth every piece of criticism thrown at me.”
Mixed Response from the Green Party
Although the campaign has gained considerable support online, its approach has received a more mixed response from within the Green Party.
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said she supported the kaupapa but acknowledged images of people in bikinis or without shirts would not appeal to everyone.
“It’s not for me, not my cup of tea. But again, this campaign isn’t aimed at me, it’s aimed at people who are not engaged in all of the tools, all of the campaigns that we have been trying. And this is about a government stopping people from voting if you’re not registered by October 25,” says Davidson.
Waikato said she understood the campaign would not appeal to everyone, including some Green Party members.
“As I said, it’s not for everyone even within our own party. There’s people like that’s not really my thing. That’s the beautiful thing about Te Pāti Kākāriki; we are a very diverse bunch of people. But we understand not one person is bigger than the kaupapa.”
Māori voters seeking to update their details or switch to the Māori roll can do so via the official Vote NZ website.
