First listen to April 29th 2013 to hear about the death of Parekura Horomia and the need for a by-election.
As a result of the death of the Labour MP Parekura Horomia, a by-election was held on Saturday to elect a new Member of Parliament for the eastern Maori seat of Ikaroa-Rawhiti. The winning candidate was Meka Whaitiri of the Labour Party. She had been a strong supporter of Parekura Horomia. She got 4,368 votes. A long way behind her was the Mana Party candidate with 2,607 votes, then the Maori Party candidate with 2,104. The Green Party candidate got 1,188 votes and there were a few votes for other people.
Only 10,519 people voted although 33,000 were on the Maori roll. This is only 35% of those who were on the roll. 65% did not vote. There is usually a low number of voters in by-elections but this is very low. Another interesting fact was that if the Mana Party and the Maori Party had joined together with only one candidate, Meka Whaitiri might have been second not first.
Perhaps this is the reason that the co-leader of the Maori Party, Dr Pita Sharples, said today that he would resign from his position as co-leader and would leave Parliament at the time of the elections in 2014. The Mana Party suggested that the Maori Party join with them to form one party for Maori people. This is very strange because just two years ago, Hone Harawira left the Maori Party to form a new party, the Mana Party.
Listen to November 13th 2008 to hear about the Maori Party and Dr Pita Sharples. Also, listen to June 6th 2011 to hear more about Hone Harawira and the Mana Party.
Note: It is Maori language week this week. Listen to July 23rd 2012 to hear about Maori language week last year.
Vocabulary
• candidate – a person standing for election, wanting to be a Member of Parliament
• co-leader – two people share the job of leader
• strange – interesting because it’s unusual
Grammar
Note that ‘suggested’ is not followed by a person as an object. You cannot say ‘He suggested me…’ It’s a good idea to add ‘that’ after the word ‘suggested’ e.g. He suggested that I …