Apathy aids Whaitiri

Reluctant Maori voters helped pave the way for a "predictable" Labour victory in the Ikaroa-Rawhiti byelection at the weekend, says Wairarapa iwi authority chairman Nelson Rangi.

Mr Rangi said a low voter turnout - estimated to be about 35 per cent of the 33,000 enrolled voters across the electorate - probably helped seal the win for Labour Party candidate Meka Whaitiri.

Mrs Whaitiri also had been borne to victory by voters loyal to the late MP for Ikaroa-Rawhiti, Parekura Horomia, whose death on April 29 resulted in the byelection, Mr Rangi said.

"It was predictable in that it was bound to be a Labour victory and predictable given the very strong personal following for Parekura," he said.

Mr Rangi said factors weighing in to the victory include Maori voters who spurned the polling booth on the day and voter perception of the alignment of the Maori Party and National Party.

"Traditionally, by-elections don't grab a great deal of public attention and Maori seem to be awfully backward in coming forward in voting for anything at all.

"You get the same in local elections and basically there seems to be an innate Maori reluctance to vote for people," he said. "It may very well have been that some people said 'who the hell do we vote for anyhow if not for Labour or a Maori Party allied with National'.

"We are dealing with people's perceptions and while I think it's somewhat unfair, I must concede the Maori Party time with National has been damaging for them," Mr Rangi said.

Whaitiri took the seat with a majority of 1761 votes over Mana's Te Hamua Nikora and got about 42 per cent of the vote in the by-election.

Nikora beat the Maori Party's Na Raihania by about 500 votes, getting 25 per cent of the vote, while Mr Raihania got 20 per cent. That was slightly down on the 23 per cent he secured in 2012 against Mr Horomia.

The preliminary results are based on the 10,519 ordinary votes counted on election night.

Mrs Whaitiri, speaking at Gisborne's Manutuke Marae yesterday to TV3's The Nation, said she had a clear mandate from the Maori of the Ikaroa-Rawhiti electorate, which was burdened with "a lot of hurt".

"Housing is a major issue, and jobs. Our people are suffering. They are telling me they are suffering and no one is listening to them. The winner of this campaign is bringing those issues to the forefront," she said. "The people of Ikaroa-Rawhiti have placed their faith in me and I'm happy with that."

Labour leader David Shearer told TV3 the victory was the starting point for his party to win back all the Maori seats and also signalled the end for the Maori Party, which will "disappear".

"We will be going out and contesting those [other] Maori seats really heavily and I believe we have a very, very strong chance at gaining certainly another two at the next election, if not the whole lot."

Within 530 votes cast in Wairarapa (not counting advance voting)

Labour won 48 per cent of the vote (253)

Maori Party won 23 per cent (121)

Mana Party won 14 per cent (72)

Green Party won 12 per cent (63)

ALCP won 3 per cent (15)