Te Pāti Māori’s Oriini Kaipara will become the next MP for Tāmaki Makaurau after handily winning yesterday’s by-election against Labour’s Peeni Henare.
The Electoral Commission confirmed that 9377 ordinary votes were counted on election night, according to a preliminary count. There are still an estimated 2621 special votes to be counted, expected to account for around 21.8% of total votes.
Early results from the by-election had former broadcaster Kaipara in a commanding lead.
Te Pāti Māori’s candidate held 64% of the vote with around a 2900 vote lead over her Labour rival, who is already a party list MP in Parliament.
Eighty-four polling booths were open on Saturday from 9am until 7pm to collect the last of the votes. An estimated 60% of votes were cast in advance, excluding special votes.
But voter turnout in the contest remained low.
At 4.30pm yesterday, the Electoral Commission estimated turnout at 27.1% of the 44,269 enrolled. That compares with 35.9% turnout at the Port Waikato by-election and 31.4% at the Hamilton West by-election.
Henare and Kaipara were considered front-runners in the by-election triggered by the death of Te Pāti Māori MP, Takutai Tarsh Kemp.
In joining the race, Kaipara made a high-profile entry into politics after spending over a decade as a journalist and broadcaster. Henare held the Tāmaki Makaurau seat between 2014 and 2023 until Kemp ousted him by a margin of just 42 votes.
Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission confirmed it was looking into a social media post by Te Pāti Māori MP Takuta Ferris on Saturday morning, the last day of polling in the by-election.
Ferris posted a photograph of himself holding a punnet of what appeared to be meat-loaded fries, with words urging people to vote.
He was pictured wearing a Te Pāti Māori-branded puffer jacket.
The Ferris post was forwarded to the Electoral Commission, who responded to a tweet: “Kia ora, thanks for letting us know. We’re looking into it.”
