Members of Taranaki's Whanui iwi have shown strong support for Sir Ngatata Love, who has stepped aside from heading two Maori trusts - one of which is under financial investigation.
Tribe members ranked him highly in voting for trustees of the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust, the body set up to administer and manage the iwi's Waitangi Treaty settlement package.
In election results released on Tuesday, Sir Ngatata won 939 votes and ranks second out of 13 candidates.
Sir Ngatata also topped the list of preferred candidates for an extraordinary vacancy - previously held
by the late Sir Paul Reeves - but will not take up that position because he won one of the regular trustee roles.
Until August this year, Sir Ngatata was chairman of the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust
and Wellington Tenths Trust.
But he is taking a leave of absence from his leadership roles while the Serious Fraud Office is carrying an investigation into Wellington Tenths Trust.
