One more Maori seat likely

It looks like the number of Maori seats will increase by only one, if at all, with the EEC reporting that the number of people on the Maori roll has increased by only 14,914.

Of the 385,977 people on the electoral roll of Maori descent, 222,000 or 58% are on the Maori roll and 164,000 or 42% are on the General Roll.

This 58/42 split is a key ration used to determine the “Maori electoral population” for boundaries. Basically you multiply 58% by the “total number of ordinarily resident persons of New Zealand Maori descent” from the census. This figure won’t be known until November 2006 it seems.