KEY POINTS:
A boundary change in the Maori seat of Hauraki-Waikato could play an important part in deciding the state of play after Saturday's election.
Much of the fascination with the 2008 election lies in whether the Maori Party can win all seven Maori electorate seats, which could give it the role of kingmaker after the election.
To win all seven its Hauraki-Waikato candidate Angeline Greensill will have to take the seat from the woman who beat her for the old Tainui seat by 1860 votes in 2005, Labour cabinet minister Nanaia Mahuta.
The vote is expected to be close but on paper Ms Greensill's chances appear to have been improved significantly by boundary changes.
The south Waikato area of Ngati Maniapoto, an iwi which is a key part of the Kingitanga and one which Ms Mahuta has connections to, is now in Te Tai Hauauru, the electorate of Tariana Turia.
It has been replaced by the south Auckland suburbs of Manurewa East, Takanini and Papakura, which last election were part of the Tamaki Makaurau electorate that overwhelmingly elected Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples.
The changes drew an official objection from Ms Mahuta, who said the 2005 boundaries more accurately reflected natural communities of interest. The Electoral Commission stuck with the planned changes, saying boundaries must fit a legal population quota of 59,583 plus or minus 5 per cent.
Ms Greensill said the boundary changes should help her but found she needed to educate some voters about them during the campaign.
"If I hadn't gone and spoken with a lot of people in Manurewa and Papakura it could have been an issue," she told NZPA.
"I met people who said they didn't know the boundaries had changed and could have been confused when they didn't see Pita's name on the ballot paper. "
Ms Mahuta said she'd found her new potential constituents in south Auckland were interested in similar things as her current voters.
"The issues are the same - health, education, employment, housing are top of the list, and in the rural areas, treaty settlements," she said.
"We're also finding a lot of Maori are concerned at the prospect of a National-led government."
She said the Maori Party had indicated it would talk to Labour and National after the election, and the best way to support a Labour-led government was a two-tick strategy for Labour.
Like Ms Mahuta - a daughter of former Tainui negotiator Sir Robert Mahuta - Ms Greensill has high-profile family links; she is a daughter of Eva Rickard, one of the key figures in the Raglan land disputes in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
She said the most important issues for voters related to poverty and the slowing economy.
"We've got to think about the growing number of poor people in this country," Ms Greensill said.
"If we want to get rid of crime and help people realise their potential, we need better health, housing and education and work hard on eliminating poverty."
She said there was also continued anger against the Foreshore and Seabed Act, the repeal of which is important for the Maori Party.
Ms Greensill and the Maori Party have attracted some attention with what appears to be a suggestion some voters support her with their electorate vote and Labour with their party vote.
She said she would prefer Hauraki-Waikato voters to support the Maori Party with their party vote as well as their electorate vote, but she has found herself suggesting some who have sympathy for both candidates to give their party vote to Labour.
"Voters should realise Nanaia is number 10 on the Labour Party list so she's going to get back in no matter what," Ms Greensill said.
"But some kaumatua and kuia have been saying they would prefer to give us both their support and have us both in.
"I've said that if you want to support us both that you should give me the electorate vote and Labour the party vote.
"But we also want a high party vote for the Maori Party. There's some very good people on the list we'd like to get in Parliament as well as the seven Maori seats."
Ms Mahuta is rejecting the split-vote approach, saying Labour needs both votes from Hauraki-Waikato constituents.
"Some people have been talking about two electorate MPs and that's not the case.
"What the polls are saying is that Maori want a Labour-led Government and the best way to do that in Hauraki-Waikato is to vote Labour."
Ms Greensill said the only way Maori voters can get a truly independent Maori voice in Parliament is to support the Maori Party, saying Ms Mahuta had voted against Maori interests by supporting Labour over legislation to repeal the Foreshore and Seabed Act.
But Ms Mahuta said the Maori Party couldn't claim to be the only voice of Maori people, saying they were as diverse as any with a wide set of interests when they vote.
Polls in the seat have produced differing results. A poll for Maori Television shows Ms Mahuta in front by 13 per cent, while a Marae Digipoll has Ms Mahuta's lead at just 0.6 per cent.
- NZPA
