Te Tai Tokerau

Te Tai Tokerau's boundaries are similar to those of the pre-Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) Northern Maori electorate. Te Tai Tokerau was created ahead of the first MMP election in 1996. In the 2002 boundary redistribution, the size of the electorate shrank to make room for an increase in the number of Māori electorates from six to seven.^[1] The boundaries were not further altered in the 2007 or 2013/14 redistributions.^[2][3]

Te Tai Tokerau is the northernmost Māori electorate, and covers an area between Cape Reinga in the Far North of the North Island to a boundary cutting through West Auckland. The major population centres are Whangārei, the Bay of Islands and north and west Auckland. The electorate contains all of the Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kuri, Te Rarawa and Ngāti Kahu tribal areas, and part of Ngāti Whātua's territory (rohe).

Its analogous general electorates are East Coast Bays, North Shore, Northcote, Northland, Rodney, Te Atatū, Upper Harbour, Whangārei, most of Helensville, part of Kelston and some of the islands located within Auckland Central.^[4]

Northern Maori had been held by the Labour Party since the 1938 election, when longstanding Reform MP Taurekareka Henare was beaten by Labour's Paraire Karaka Paikea.^[5] In 1993, after 55 years of his party holding the seat, Labour MP Bruce Gregory was beaten by Henare's great-grandson, Tau Henare, standing for New Zealand First, ending Labour's unbroken hold on the four Māori seats. Henare went on to win Te Tai Tokerau after the switch to MMP, and New Zealand First won all five of the newly drawn Māori electorates.

After a tumultuous parliamentary term which saw all but one of the five New Zealand First Māori MPs defect to other parties, (including Henare himself, who went on to found Mauri Pacific), Labour won all six Māori electorates contested at the 1999 election. In Te Tai Tokerau, Tau Henare was beaten into third place behind the New Zealand First candidate and Dover Samuels, who Henare had beaten three years previous.

However, Labour's losing the five Māori electorates in 1996 showed that the Māori vote was contestable for the first time in five decades, as the new electoral system coupled with the rise of small parties meant that non-Labour candidacy in these seats was more feasible than under First Past the Post.

The New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy of 2004–05 proved to be the catalyst for the second challenge to Labour party domination of the Māori electorates, this time from the Māori Party. At the 2005 election, Samuels and three other Labour Māori MPs lost their seats to Māori Party challengers. In Te Tai Tokerau, the winner was Hone Harawira.^[6][7]

Harawira resigned from the Māori Party in early 2011 and became an independent MP. On 11 May 2011, he resigned from Parliament effective 20 May, seeking a mandate for his new party, the Mana Party.^[8][9] This caused the 25 June 2011 by-election, which was contested by five parties, with the main contenders Harawira, Kelvin Davis (Labour Party) and Solomon Tipene (Māori Party). Harawira retained the electorate with a majority of 1,117,^[10] his previous majority being over 6,000.^[11] In the 2011 general election some months later, Harawira had a similar majority to Davis.^[12]

The Mana Party formed a coalition with the Internet Party just prior to the 2014 New Zealand general election. The coalition was registered with the Electoral Commission as the Internet Party and Mana Movement in July 2014, allowing it to contest the party vote.^[13] The Internet Party was founded by controversial online millionaire Kim Dotcom, and this strategic coalition resulted in Harawira's main opponent, Labour's Kelvin Davis, getting endorsements from Winston Peters of New Zealand First^[14] and the Prime Minister, John Key of the National Party.^[15] Even the electorate's candidate for the Māori Party, Te Hira Paenga, reminded voters of the importance of strategic voting.^[16] In his fourth challenge in the Te Tai Tokerau electorate, Davis ousted the incumbent Harawira, which ended the representation of the Mana Party in Parliament.^[17]

Key

  NZ First  Mauri Pacific  Labour  Māori Party  Mana  Independent

Members of Parliament elected from party lists in elections where that person also unsuccessfully contested Te Tai Tokerau. Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections.

¹Kelvin Davis also contested the 2011 by-election, and re-entered Parliament on 23 May 2014 following Shane Jones' resignation.

2023 general election: Te Tai Tokerau[18]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Te Pāti Māori	Mariameno Kapa-Kingi		10,428	37.55	+12.59	7,690	26.62	+16.44
	Labour	N Kelvin Davis		9,911	35.69	-19.38	12,653	43.81	-16.25
	Green	Hūhana Lyndon		4,187	15.08	—	2,731	9.46	+2.11
	Legalise Cannabis	Maki Herbert		1,932	6.96	-0.90	468	1.62	-1.23
	Independent	Paturiri Toautu		443	1.60	—
	NZ First						1,917	6.64	–0.46
	National						1,545	5.35	+1.74
	New Zealand Loyal						401	1.38	—
	ACT						307	1.06	-0.25
	Freedoms NZ						245	0.85	—
	Opportunities						211	0.73	–0.27
	NewZeal						161	0.56	-0.46 [a]
	DemocracyNZ						72	0.25	—
	Animal Justice						28	0.10	—
	Women's Rights						16	0.06	—
	Leighton Baker Party						12	0.04	—
	New Conservatives						10	0.03	-0.36
	New Nation						6	0.02	—
Informal votes				880			410
Total valid votes				27,772			28,883
	Te Pāti Māori gain from Labour		Majority	517	1.86

2020 general election: Te Tai Tokerau[19]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	Y Kelvin Davis		14,932	55.07	+2.47	16,692	60.06	+2.26
	Māori Party	Mariameno Kapa-Kingi		6,768	24.96	—	2,828	10.18	3.72
	Legalise Cannabis	Maki Herbert		2,131	7.86	+3.77	791	2.85	+1.77
	Public	Billy Te Kahika		1,349	4.98	—
	ONE	Janice Arahanga-Epiha		433	1.60	—	284	1.02	—
	New Conservative	Daniel Shortland		296	1.09	—	108	0.39	+0.33
	Independent	Clinton Dearlove		265	0.98	—
	Independent	Moemoea Mohoawhenua		129	0.48	—
	Green						2,044	7.35	+1.32
	NZ First						1,974	7.10	–4.00
	National						1,002	3.61	–3.80
	Advance NZ						771	2.77	—
	ACT						363	1.31	+1.15
	Opportunities						279	1.00	–1.31
	Vision NZ						141	0.51	–
	Outdoors						25	0.09	+0.04
	Sustainable NZ						9	0.03	—
	Heartland						3	0.01	—
	Social Credit						3	0.01	–0.009
	TEA						1	0.004	–
Informal votes				812			474
Total valid votes				27,115			27,792
	Labour hold		Majority	8,164	30.11	+10.16

2017 general election: Te Tai Tokerau[20]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	Y Kelvin Davis		12,673	52.60	+8.70	14,446	57.80	+22.73
	Mana	Hone Harawira		7,866	32.65	-7.88	1,455	5.82	-12.71
	Green	Godfrey James Rudolph		1,958	8.13	-	1,583	6.33	-3.61
	Legalise Cannabis	Maki Herbert		986	4.09	-	269	1.08	-0.02
	NZ First						2,775	11.10	-3.29
	National						1,851	7.41	-1.05
	Māori Party						1,615	6.46	+5.19
	Opportunities						577	2.31	-
	ACT						41	0.16	0.00
	People's Party						40	0.16	-
	Ban 1080						21	0.08	0.00
	Conservative						14	0.06	-0.62
	Outdoors						12	0.05	-
	Internet						5	0.02	-18.51
	United Future						5	0.02	-0.14
	Democrats						1	0.001	-0.049
Informal votes				610			223
Total valid votes				24,093			24,993
	Labour hold		Majority	4,807	19.95	+16.58

2014 general election: Te Tai Tokerau[21]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	Kelvin Davis		9,712	43.90	+6.80	8,034	35.07	+0.42
	Mana	N Hone Harawira		8,969	40.53	-2.78
	Māori Party	Te Hira Paenga		2,579	11.65	-4.96	2,300	10.04	-1.12
	Independent	Clinton Dearlove		454	2.05	+2.05
	Internet Mana						4,246	18.53	+18.53
	NZ First						3,296	14.39	+4.53
	Green						2,278	9.94	+1.33
	National						1,938	8.46	-0.71
	Legalise Cannabis						254	1.10	-1.88
	Conservative						154	0.67	+0.15
	Focus						45	0.20	+0.20
	ACT						37	0.16	-0.07
	United Future						18	0.08	-0.01
	Ban 1080						19	0.08	+0.08
	Independent Coalition						16	0.07	+0.07
	Democrats						11	0.05	+0.04
	Civilian						5	0.02	+0.02
Informal votes				418			257
Total valid votes				22,132			22,908
	Labour gain from Mana		Majority	743	3.36	-2.85

2011 general election: Te Tai Tokerau[22]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Mana	Y Hone Harawira		8,121	43.31	-18.641	4,844	24.49	+24.49
	Labour	Kelvin Davis		6,956	37.10	+7.66	6,855	34.65	-10.98
	Māori Party	Waihoroi Shortland		3,114	16.61	-45.351	2,208	11.16	-19.61
	Legalise Cannabis	Maki Herbert		559	2.98	-1.08	229	1.16	+0.08
	NZ First						1,950	9.86	+2.44
	National						1,814	9.17	-0.17
	Green						1,704	8.61	+5.10
	Conservative						102	0.52	+0.52
	ACT						46	0.23	-0.32
	United Future						17	0.09	-0.03
	Libertarianz						6	0.03	+0.01
	Alliance						5	0.03	±0.00
	Democrats						2	0.01	+0.01
Informal votes				912			473
Total valid votes				18,750			19,782
	Mana hold		Majority	1,165	6.21	-26.30

¹Swings against both Harawira (Mana Party) and Shortland (Māori Party) are calculated against Harawira's Māori Party vote in 2008

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 33,797^[23]

2011 Te Tai Tokerau by-election
Notes: Blue background denotes the winner of the by-election. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list prior to the by-election. Yellow background denotes the winner of the by-election, who was a list MP prior to the by-election. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Mana Party	Y Hone Harawira	6,065	49.28
	Labour	Kelvin Davis	4,948	40.20
	Māori Party	Solomon Tipene	1,087	8.83
	Legalise Cannabis	Maki Herbert	135	1.10
	OurNZ	Kelvyn Alp	72	0.59
Informal votes			32
Total Valid votes			12,307
	Mana Party gain from Māori Party	Majority	1,117	9.08

2008 general election: Te Tai Tokerau[24]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Māori Party	Y Hone Harawira		12,019	61.95	+9.54	6,204	30.77	-0.27
	Labour	Kelvin Davis		5,711	29.44	-3.97	9,200	45.63	-3.70
	Legalise Cannabis	Judy Daniels		788	4.06	+1.05	218	1.08	+0.44
	ACT	Peter Tashkoff		680	3.51		112	0.56	+0.31
	Hapu Party	David Rankin		202	1.04
	National						1,883	9.34	-4.33
	NZ First						1,495	7.41	-0.45
	Green						709	3.52	-0.83
	Family Party						108	0.54
	Progressive						74	0.37	-0.01
	Bill and Ben						74	0.37
	Kiwi						32	0.16
	United Future						24	0.12	-0.29
	RAM						10	0.05
	Pacific						6	0.03
	Alliance						5	0.02	-0.01
	Libertarianz						5	0.02	±0
	Workers Party						3	0.01
	Democrats						1	0.00
	RONZ						0	0.00	-0.03
Informal votes				530			292
Total valid votes				19,400			20,163
	Māori Party hold		Majority	6,308	32.52	+13.52

2005 general election: Te Tai Tokerau[7]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Māori Party	Hone Harawira		9,965	52.41		6,151	31.00
	Labour	N Dover Samuels		6,352	33.41	-16.99	9,788	49.33	+2.10
	Independent	Mere Mangu		1,250	6.57	-9.56
	Destiny	Ernest Morton		664	3.49		80	0.40
	Legalise Cannabis	Judy Daniels		574	3.01		126	0.64	-1.73
	Independent	Hana Maxwell		207	1.09
	NZ First						1,559	7.86	-12.63
	National						994	5.01	-0.85
	Green						533	2.69	-8.67
	United Future						81	0.41	-1.74
	Progressive						71	0.36	-1.01
	ACT						49	0.25	-1.18
	99 MP						33	0.17
	Christian Heritage						18	0.09	-1.81
	Family Rights						17	0.09
	Democrats						10	0.05
	Alliance						6	0.03	-3.64
	RONZ						6	0.03
	One NZ						5	0.03	-0.01
	Direct Democracy						3	0.02
	Libertarianz						3	0.02
Informal votes				554			234
Total valid votes				19,012			19,842
Turnout				20,706	69.79	+11.13
	Māori Party gain from Labour		Majority	3,613	19.00

2002 general election: Te Tai Tokerau[25]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	Y Dover Samuels		7,868	50.40	+3.08	7,646	47.23	-4.36
	Independent	Maryann Mangu		2,532	16.22
	Alliance	Rangimarie Naida Glavish		1,926	12.34	+5.25	594	3.67	-2.99
	National	Mita Whare Harris		1,018	6.52	+1.98	674	4.16	-2.32
	Independent	Michael John Smith		822	5.27
	Christian Heritage	Michael Norman		625	4.00	+1.96	308	1.90
	Progressive	Petera Kamira		428	2.74		222	1.37
	New Generation	Te Kaiarahi Hui		308	1.97
	Quality of Life	Ivan Erstich		83	0.53
	NZ First						3,318	20.49	+4.76
	Green						1,839	11.36	+5.62
	Mana Māori						531	3.28
	Legalise Cannabis						384	2.37
	United Future						348	2.15
	ACT						231	1.43	+0.48
	ORNZ						81	0.50
	NMP						7	0.04
	One NZ						7	0.04
Informal votes				484			189
Total valid votes				15,610			16,190
Turnout				16,562	58.66
	Labour hold		Majority	5,336	34.18

1999 general election: Te Tai Tokerau[26][27]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dover Samuels		8,583	47.32		9,403	51.59
	NZ First	Anaru George		2,891	15.94		2,868	15.73
	Mauri Pacific	N Tau Henare		2,781	15.33		746
	Alliance	Ella Henry		1,286	7.09		1,214	6.66
	National	Tom Bowling Murray		824	4.54		1,182	6.48
	Christian Heritage	James Clendon Prime		370	2.04		282
	ACT	Nellie Rata		280	1.54		174	0.95
	Independent	Kingi Eruera Taurua		266	1.47
	Mana Wahine	Mere Rawiri-Tau		257	1.42
	Piri Wiri Tua	Te Kaiarahi Hui		207	1.14
	Independent	Dun Mihaka		187	1.03
	Independent	Marama Netana		104	0.57
	Freedom Movement	Atareta Kapa Hills		102	0.56		43
	Green						1,046	5.74
	Legalise Cannabis						553
	Mana Māori						494
	Christian Democrats						89
	Animals First						36
	One NZ						22
	NMP						17
	Libertarianz						16
	McGillicuddy Serious						16
	People's Choice Party						9
	United NZ						9	0.05
	Natural Law						5
	Republican						4
	South Island						0
Total valid votes				18,138			18,228
	Labour gain from Mauri Pacific		Majority	5,692	31.38