Te Pāti Māori is urging supporters to split their vote at the election, backing its candidates with their electorate vote while giving their party vote to Labour, the Greens or another left-wing party.
The strategy is aimed at helping Te Pāti Māori win more Māori electorates, while using the party vote to strengthen the wider left bloc in Parliament.
Speaking to supporters and manuhiri at Te Poho o Rawiri Marae in Gisborne on Sunday, Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngārewa-Packer outlined the approach.
“There’s one plan, two votes. Our plan has to be to focus on the candidate votes.”
Ngārewa-Packer said the party trusted its supporters to decide where to place their party vote, saying they would choose what was right for their people and the environment.
But Labour’s top Māori MP, Willie Jackson, said Māori voters should be free to support whichever candidate they believe is the best choice.
“We have to be respectful to Māori voters, and Māori voters want to vote for the best person.”
Jackson also questioned whether Te Pāti Māori was confident in all of its candidates, pointing to divisions within the party.
Greens co-leader Marama Davidson said her party would also continue to stand behind its own candidates in the Māori electorates.
“What I’m very clear about is the people deserve to choose the best representative for their electorate. And our candidates, Huhana, Tania Waikato and Heath Skipworth, are working hard because they deserve to be the electorate candidate MPs for those places.”
Labour and the Greens are continuing to campaign for their own candidates in the Māori electorates, rather than stepping aside to support Te Pāti Māori candidates.
At the same time, both parties stand to benefit if Te Pāti Māori supporters follow the party’s call and use their second vote for another left-wing party.
The split-vote strategy highlights the different roles of the two votes under New Zealand’s MMP electoral system.
Voters have one vote for their local electorate candidate and another for their preferred political party. The party vote largely determines each party’s share of seats in Parliament, while electorate wins determine which candidates enter Parliament from individual electorates.
If Te Pāti Māori wins more electorate seats than its share of the party vote would normally entitle it to, those additional seats become an overhang.
The winning MPs keep their seats, allowing Parliament to grow beyond its usual 120 members.
Over 17 thousand Māori voters change rolls
While political parties make plans for the upcoming election, new data from the Electoral Commission shows 17,033 Māori voters switched rolls between 31 March and 6 August 2026.
Of those, 9,400 moved from the general roll to the Māori roll, while 7,633 went in the opposite direction.
The cut-off date for Māori voters to switch rolls was 6 August, meaning registered voters of Māori descent can no longer change rolls before the election.
But during the same period, there were 11,272 new enrolments, with 7,723 enrolling on the Māori roll and 3,549 on the general roll.
Those who are yet to enrol can still do so until 25 October.
“We’ve seen more enrolment activity this year compared with the Māori Electoral Option period in 2023, especially for new enrolments,” Electoral Commission Chief Advisor Māori Hone Matthews said.
As of 6 August, there were 565,092 Māori voters enrolled, with 55 percent on the Māori roll and 45 percent on the general roll.
