While Nanaia Mahuta and Kelvin Davis are celebrating victory in their Māori electorates, it is a relatively bittersweet celebration considering the poor overall vote count for the Labour Party in this year’s election.
Nanaia Mahuta took out Hauraki-Waikato again with a steady and strong lead throughout the night receiving 62% of the votes at 10,510 ahead of her closest competitor by over 6000 votes.
She told Mihingarangi Forbes and Maiki Sherman this morning on the Kōwhiri 14 Te Whakatau special, while it is disappointing that Labour has not achieved its goal of changing the Government, Labour winning 6 of the Māori seats shows strong support amongst Māori for their party.
Kelvin Davis had the surprise win in Te Tai Tokerau receiving 46% of votes 8,442 with a margin of 1,119 separating him from Hone Harawira who has 7323 votes.
Initially in his discussion this morning he took the time to acknowledge Hone Harawira and his efforts for the people of Te Tai Tokerau. He also says now the real hard work begins which is representing his electorate as effectively as possible.[youtube:z-m_XqgjjHw]