Independent Te Tai Tonga MP Tākuta Ferris is urging supporters to give him their candidate vote while sending their party vote to the left as he campaigns to retain the seat in November.
Ferris confirmed at the weekend he would stand for re-election as an independent, having been expelled from Te Pāti Māori last year.
Speaking to Tahu News in te reo Māori, he encouraged those backing his candidacy to use their party vote on the left.
“Kia kaha rā ki te tuku ō pōti pāti ki te taha mauī o te Whare,” Ferris said.
He acknowledged a change of government would not necessarily be straightforward.
The call comes as split voting features prominently in campaigning across the Māori electorates. Te Pāti Māori last week also urged supporters to prioritise its candidates with their candidate vote while using their party vote on the left.
‘Independent, but not alone’
While campaigning without party backing, Ferris says being independent doesn’t mean carrying the campaign alone.
“Ehara i te mea he mea hou, ehara i te mea anō hoki mā te tangata kotahi ēra mahi e kawe,” he said.
He pointed to others carrying campaigns in their own rohe, including Te Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, and said his focus remained on carrying the aspirations of those who sent him to Parliament.
“Ko tāku whakatau he whakamārama ki te katoa nā ētahi i tuku pātai mai, engari ko tō mātou tū he tū māia, he kōkiri tonu i ngā hiahia nā rātou ahau i tono ki te Whare Pāremata hei kanohi, hei reo mā rātou.”
Ferris rejected any suggestion that sitting as an independent had left him isolated.
“Ehara i te mea kei te mokemoke ahau, he hunga tā mātou me ngā whātoro ki ngā tāngata katoa o te Pāremata, ngā Māori katoa nō te Pāremata, nō reira pai noa iho te noho me te kōkiri me ngā mahi.”
Four candidates contest Te Tai Tonga
Ferris faces a four-way race for Te Tai Tonga, against Labour’s Mananui Ramsden, the Greens’ Dr Lisa Te Morenga and Te Pāti Māori’s Lisa Marie Murch.
He won the seat for Te Pāti Māori in 2023, defeating long-serving Labour MP Rino Tirikatene, before becoming an independent following his expulsion from the party in November 2025.
Te Tai Tonga stretches from Te Whanganui-a-Tara through Te Waipounamu to Rakiura and includes Rēkohu/Wharekauri.
Voters go to the polls on November 7.
