Harawira lost his seat in the Maori electorate of Te Tai Tokerau to Labour’s Kelvin Davis by nearly seven percent of the vote in the 2014 election. It was a devastating loss for Mana, which had held the seat since it split with the Maori Party in 2011. Pundits chalked the de-crowning moment up to the short-term alliance with the Internet Party, Laila Harre’s and Kim Dotcom’s little project. Now Mana is talking of another cross-party agreement, this time with their estranged parents.
At Mana’s AGM, held in Auckland on the last weekend of July, Harawira and party president Lisa McNab said that, despite “fundamental” differences with the Maori Party, the two parties, conceived with mutual focus towards indigenous issues, could possibly work together next year. Both McNab and Harawira say they’ve met with new Maori Party president Tukoroirangi Morgan since early July. “We didn’t talk about mergers or policy agreements” Harawira told the AGM, “but we did agree to consider strategic arrangements with the Maori Party to bring all Maori seats back into Maori hands”
Weeks before the AGM Harawira said his mind was open and even some kind of ‘memorandum of understanding’ or joint-ticket could be a possibility. However, Māori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell has since reiterated “that there is currently no appetite for a formal alliance” but told Radio NZ there is a possibility of pulling candidates out of closely-contested electorates, and encouraging constituents to vote for the other candidate. One such contested electorate would be Harawira’s prized Te Tai Tokerau. Indeed, if the Maori Party had stepped aside in the electorate in 2014 then Harawira may have won.
It would be interesting to see a government coalition partner, the Maori Party, work closer and more strategically with Mana, a passionately anti-National Party movement headed by a veteran activist-cum-politician who is known for his combativeness and cheek. Maori’s Ururoa Flavell has undeniably been more cautious when questioned about plans for cooperating, saying "No-one's talking alliances at the moment."
Recently, Kelvin Davis chimed in, saying a collaboration would be the downfall of the Maori Party, saying “I think the sooner Hone joins up with the Māori Party the sooner he'll tear them apart, and it can only be a good thing for us.”