26 Oct 2008

Labour, Maori Party candidates even in Hauraki-Waikato

11:37 am on 26 October 2008

The latest Marae Digipoll has the Maori Party and Labour candidates neck in neck in the seat of Hauraki-Waikato.

The poll has Labour's Nanaia Mahuta on 50.3% and the Maori Party's Angeline Greensill on 49.7%.

There are no other candidates contesting the seat.

There is also a tie for the party vote in the electorate with the Maori Party on 41% support and Labour on 41.3%.

That is an increase of 7.9 percentage points for Labour and a drop of 3.9 points for the Maori Party since the previous poll in July.

In the seat of Te Tai Tonga current Labour MP Mahara Okeroa is on 40.4%, 5.7 points behind the Maori Party's Rahui Reid Katene.

However, the Labour Party still leads the party vote in the electorate with 44%, up 8.2 percentage points from an August poll; while the Maori Party is down 5 points to 29.5%.

The polls each surveyed 400 voters between 8 and 21 October and have a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9%.