Harawira's votes fall on recount

Hone Harawira.

After a recount of 22,000 ballot papers at a cost of $30,000, Mana leader Hone Harawira has been left with two fewer votes and a greater margin of defeat.

Mr Harawira requested a recount by the Electoral Commission out of concern about the large number of disallowed votes in his electorate.

District Court Judge Tom Broadmore, who oversaw the recount, said yesterday that only "minor variations" from the official result had been found. In the original result, Kelvin Davis of Labour won the seat by 739 votes over Mr Harawira.

After the recount, Mr Davis' support had increased by two votes, Mr Harawira's fell by two votes, and the Maori Party's candidate, Te Hira Paenga, gained 14 more votes.

The Electoral Commission said staffing and administration for the two-day recount cost about $30,000.

Mr Harawira was not commenting yesterday.

He had earlier admitted a reversal of his defeat was unlikely, but he wanted to ensure all votes cast by Maori had been "treated with due respect". Analysis by his party had found 1000 special votes "were not properly counted".

While the recount did not affect the outcome in Te Tai Tokerau, Justice Broadmore said he planned to issue a judgment "to record matters coming to my attention during the recount". He said the matters were of concern to the parties but would not affect the final result.

Mr Davis said he had not been losing sleep while the ballot papers were recounted.

He said Mr Harawira was entitled to challenge the result, but he did not share the Mana leader's concern on Maori votes and the recount seemed "a waste of money".

Mr Davis has previously lost three times to Mr Harawira. He expects his rival to return stronger in 2017, without the baggage of his party's alliance with the Internet Party.