The ultimate character of the campaign trail: An electoral gatecrasher who’s voting for himself

Last election, he gatecrashed an Act campaign launch in a fake moustache and heckled Christopher Luxon over a fence. He was the ultimate character of the 2023 campaign trail, seemingly everywhere. He has continued to turn up to events this election, but now, Karl Mokaraka is also politely asking for your vote.

Name: Karl Mokaraka.

Age: 43.

Occupation: I’m a credit manager and have worked in finance for well over 20 years. I also do a lot of voluntary work in my own community in south Auckland. I run men’s and women’s groups, really focused on the family. We’ve done that for the last 12 years. I also ran a youth kitchen, feeding our local youth, for two years. It balances me, actually.

Living situation: I’ve got four children. I’ve moved back to Ōtāhuhu, where I was born and raised.

Electorate? Ōtāhuhu, which encompasses three suburbs: Ōtara, Papatoetoe and Ōtāhuhu. According to the data, we’re one of the most socio-economically deprived electorates in all of New Zealand, not just Auckland. So we’ve got a lot of challenges.

Who will you vote for? I’ll vote for myself and I’ll also vote for the party I’m standing for, which is Vision New Zealand. But I have voted across different parties: Helen Clark when I was a student down in Christchurch, Winston [Peters] at some stage, and even National and Maurice Williamson.

So you’re standing? I’m standing.

What are the three biggest issues for you in the election? I think politics has forgotten the everyday Kiwi. It’s all become about party, party, party and not people, people, people. That’s probably true of both Labour and National. The everyday Kiwi family doing it tough, sitting around the table talking about how they’re going to pay the bills and how they’re going to get housing. Those are the big issues in my electorate.

Do you talk about politics at home? Oh, yes. My children are very politically minded. I watch a lot of stuff on YouTube, and we review political debates and that sort of thing.

Describe New Zealand in three words: Beautiful. The greatest nation. A place I call home.

If you had to get a politician’s face tattooed on you, who would it be and why? I’d probably have to cut my arm off, because I don’t believe in politicians.

Will you vote on election day or before? I’ll probably vote on the day. I’d like to get amongst the people in my community. We’re all doing this together, so I’d like to vote on the day.

What will you do on election night? After all the campaigning, I’ll have a bit of a breather. But I’m just hopeful we get the best outcome for people, not politicians, but people.

As told to Henry Oliver