Reading the NZ Herald today it is apparent that the Maori Party and newly established Mana Party seem compelled to destroy each other, and in the process drive Maori votes towards the mainstream parties. We might expect the Labour Party to be the beneficiary of this bickering. No one wins in these types of slanging matches. The implication is that we will have further concentration of power in the major parties.
The other interpretation is that such blaster is part and parcel of Maori political discourse, and that at the end of the day, they will still vote Maori. I know few Maori people, having only lived in NZ for 2 years, but I suspect a good many of them consider themselves foremost human beings, and give secondary consideration to being Maori. So it will be interesting to see how they vote....or whether they vote at all. Does Honewira MP raise the voter participation with his new party, or does he earn their derision.
It remains to be seen.
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