Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke of Te Pāti Māori has secured the Hauraki-Waikato seat for a second term, celebrating her election night with supporters at Rangiriri.
Maipi-Clarke holds the Māori electorate of Hauraki-Waikato following the final result of the preliminary count with 17,982 votes from voters going to her. Following her is Kingi Kiriona of Labour with 7,541 votes from voters going to him, totalling to the current margin of 10,441.
Reflecting on the milestone, Maipi-Clarke expressed her gratitude to her supporters.
“I just want to mihi to every cousin that has put up a billboard, the hāngī, Te Toka Tū o Waikato, Āwhina i te Kaupapa, Nana Huri on the bus, Nana Mamae coming with us everywhere with Uncle Tamati, Matua Brad, Aunty Lisa, Uncle Harley for getting all the signs up everywhere, my mum, my dad, I’ve got a whole long list that I can get through tonight,” Maipi-Clarke says.
Maipi-Clarke reflected on her past three years in Parliament with her supporters and whānau.
“Just reflecting on the past three years that we’ve had has been an absolute roller coaster, not just myself but everything that we’ve had to endure as a people. There’s been one hundred and seventy legislations that have affected us under urgency from 8am to 12am,” she says.
Over at Rukumoana Marae in Morrinsville, Kingi Kiriona gathered with his supporters. Although he did not succeed the Hauraki-Waikato seat, he received confirmation that he will enter Parliament as a list MP.
“Willie (Jackson) rang and he rang to say congratulations, based on the current polling I will be going to Parliament,” Kiriona announced to his supporters.
Kiriona expressed the core message of his campaign and the celebration of his teams collective effort over the past seven months.
“If there’s a kura huna to certainly my campaign, you never underestimate the power of whānau and that’s what this campaign has been for us, has been the power of whānau.”
This marks a significant outcome for the region as Maipi-Clarke of Te Pāti Māori returns to Parliament to represent Hauraki-Waikato and Kiriona of Labour enters Parliament for his first term.
