MAORI POLITICS

In 1993 Ross Himiona, wrote, “Maori politics are practiced with great gusto, much noise, good humour, and sometimes too with considerable acrimony, … by the wise and respected, … by the not-so-wise, by the manipulators, numbers men and power brokers, behind doors and in dark corners; … by our womenfolk quietly getting on with the real business while the men prance and bluster; just like the other variety.”

The big difference of course is that the other variety doesn’t have to first convince its constituency to vote. That’s the dual challenge for Maori in this year’s local body elections; convince Pakeha that it’s in their interests to vote for you, and Maori that it’s in their interests to vote – period.

You’d be smart to run as part of a slate of candidates who are known to be good listeners, harder workers and champion communicators. And you’d be smarter still to avoid the killer mistakes that put paid to Maori success in the past. First, don’t stand Maori against each other. In 2004 three Pakeha and four Maori competed for two seats in the Western Ward. Result? Two Pakeha won. Second, don’t let mana get in the way of eliminating weak wannabe candidates. If someone can’t attract Pakeha support and excite Maori participation, do everyone a favour and cut them. Third, while you should talk to them, avoid public endorsements for your campaign by any organisation. Electoral laws on campaign spending aside, they can lose you more votes than they’re worth. Finally, don’t run with Maori only nominees or so-called Maori issues. Pick people with character and ability who understand that every issue is of interest to Maori.

Some independent candidates will likely get in, regardless of anything you do. Look at who amongst them might make attractive allies on Council, but don’t get too bogged down trying to win them over pre-election. The same goes for the Mayoralty. Run your own strong candidate before thinking about how you might work with an independent.

You should already have a hard-charging campaign team on the ground to raise the money, run the strategies and close the connections between you and the voters. Engari, the Maori Party showed that, even at very short notice, it can still be done successfully.

Policy statements haven’t played an important part in past local body elections up this way. But this year, if you’ve got a strong slate, a heavyweight Mayoral contender, an ace campaign team and key alliances, then a policy platform that tells voters clearly what to expect from you would be nothing but a plus.

If you can pull it all together in the next few weeks, you’ve got a fighting chance to overcome the dual challenge of conservative Pakeha and disengaged Maori voters, although, from my point of view, the real political challenge facing this entire country is how to make the Maori political process part of the mainstream.

So, how do you convince a Pakeha to vote for a Maori? The same way you convince a Maori to vote. Put your head down and bum up, than go kanohi ki te kanohi and door to door for every vote.

Hei konei. Hei kona.