Māori wards
What will introducing a Māori ward mean?
The council sought informal feedback on Māori wards from the community as part of its Representation Review in March 2021. In all, the Council received 499 responses on Māori representation. Of those, 408 responses (81.76 per cent) supported Māori wards. Far North District councillors voted to establish Māori wards for the 2022 and 2025 local body elections following an extraordinary Council meeting in May 2021.
The Māori ward, Ngā Tai o Tokerau, will cover the entire district and comprise of four councillors elected by voters on the Māori Electoral Roll. For a list of candidates standing in the Ngā Tai o Tokerau ward, please visit the 'Voting in this local election' webpage.
Fair representation means each elected member represents roughly the same number of people. There is a "plus 10% rule" to help us avoid unnatural divisions between wards. In 2020 there were 25,000 people in the Far North on the Māori electoral roll and 46,050 on the general roll. That means:
- Each general ward councillor represents between 6907 and 8442 people
- Each Māori ward councillor represents between 5625 and 6875 people.