7.50pm: A party of five parties beckons with grim early numbers for the Māori Party
Election Night 2017: The Māori Party could be wiped out, if early numbers are a guide.
We haven’t nearly enough data yet to be penning the obituary, but the Māori Party has had a bad start to the night. As the below show, the party’s candidates are behind in all the seats they’re contesting.
Te Ururoa Flavell and Howie Tamati will not be throwing in the towel yet. The seats cover vast areas of territory, there are a truckload of advance votes to be counted, so there is even less guarantee that the early samples will bear out in these electorates. But still. At this rate, it will be a five party parliament. MMP was meant to bring a panoply of party shades. Never before has it delivered fewer than six parties.
Toby Manhire
Toby Manhire is editor-at-large at The Spinoff. He loves to cast a pod, whether it's Gone By Lunchtime, At Large or Juggernaut. He is a former editor of The Spinoff and has worked as a journalist in NZ and the UK since the last millennium.
