Rawiri Waititi seems likely to hold on to his electorate Waiariki, and has delivered a victory speech in his electorate.
With 94.8% of the vote in, Waititi has taken the electorate in a landslide at 15,077 votes, compared to second-placed Toni Boynton’s 4,173, who conceded to Waititi earlier in the night.
With the Labour Party at 34 seats in Parliament, Boynton’s placing on the party list means she will just miss out.
“I want to thank you all for giving me your support for the next 3 years.” Waititi said to a jubilant crowd.
Waititi said it had been a huge night so far for Te Pāti Māori which looks to secure all of Labour’s current Māori seats across the motu.
“You have seen all the other electorates they are so close.” Waititi told the crowd.
“Te Pāti Māori is coming... Te Pāti Māori is coming... Te Pāti Māori is coming,” he said to a raucous applause.
Notably, Boynton and Waititi have both been largely in agreement with each other during their respective campaigns, showing that they are, more or less, in support of each other to a degree.
While Boynton is pushing to have a Labour, Te Pāti Māori and Greens government, Waititi is adamant about having more voters in his party’s corner no matter the political alliances later tonight.
The third candidate Charles Tiki Hunia, who is representing Vision New Zealand, has claimed 803 votes.
