The Mana Movement’s list is out. The top 4 come as no
surprise. Hone, Annette, John and Sue. A strong ensemble and Mana will hope all
four make it in. Number 5 comes as a bit of a surprise. Misty Harrison from
Whanganui. I don’t Misty, but have heard of her. I think she was on Marae
Investigates a few months back. I guess Mana were looking to balance their list
with a rangatahi voice. It is encouraging to see 3 of the top 5 candidates are women.
The Maori Party list is also looking strong. Waihoroi
Shortland occupies the first slot followed by Kaapua Smith (a young candidate) and
Wheturangi Welsh-Tapiata. Interestingly, 3 of the top 5 candidates are women as
well. To the credit of the current Maori Party MPs three have accepted a low list
ranking while Rahui Katene has even opted to keep her name off of the list. However,
I doubt this will make much difference as the Maori Party will not, or probably
not, get any list MPs.
It’s great to see the kaupapa Maori Parties showing a commitment
to women. And yes Mana is a kaupapa Maori Party as well. 6 of the top 10 Maori
Party list candidates are women and 4 of the top 10 Mana candidates are women –
2 of those women have a strong chance of entering Parliament.
