Five candidates confirmed in Tāmaki Makaurau by-election
Tuesday, 5 August 2025
The race is on to become the next MP for Tāmaki Makaurau, with five candidates confirmed as nominations close.
The September 6 by-election in the Māori electorate was triggered by the sudden death of Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp in late June.
Labour list MP Peeni Henare, who previously held the seat for three elections, and came just 42 votes short of holding it in 2023, is running again.
He’s up against first time candidate Oriini Kaipara, a former broadcaster with Newshub, who is running for Te Pāti Maori, and Vision NZ’s Hannah Tamaki, the wife of controversial Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki.
Far right activist Kelvyn Alp is standing for the party New Zealand Loyal and independent Sherry Lee Matene is also running.
No candidates from National, ACT, the Greens or New Zealand First will be standing in the seat.
“We don’t believe New Zealand should have different seats in Parliament based on race,” said ACT press secretary Connor Molloy when asked whether the party would stand a candidate.
National did stand a candidate in the seat at the 2023 election, Hinurewa Te Hau, though has previously advocated for abolishing the Māori electorates.
Should Henare win back his old seat, he would resign his position on Labour’s list to become an electorate MP. That would allow the party to bring in a new MP, Georgie Dansey, who contested Hamilton East in 2023 and is next on the party list.
As lawyer Graeme Edgeler explained in June, this is similiar to what happened after Jacinda Ardern won the Mt Albert by-election following the resignation of David Shearer.
“She won, and so then she resigned as a list MP and became the electorate MP instead and Labour got a new list MP. The same would happen here,” he said.
No matter the outcome, the number of MPs in the House - 123 - would remain the same.
“That’s because a by-election does not affect the number of list seats each party is entitled to - list seats are not recalculated after a by-election,” an Electoral Commission spokesperson said.
Early voting is set to commence on August 25, with the official polling day set down for September 6. Overseas voting will start a few days earlier - August 20.