Mariameno Kapa-Kingi launches her own party
Monday, 11 May 2026
Re-instated Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi has launched her own political party.
The Te Tai Tokerau MP was expelled from the party last year over allegations of financial misconduct. She challenged this decision in the High Court and won.
Kapa-Kingi has been formally re-instated into the party earlier this year but has now launched a new party called Te Tai Tokerau Party.
She made the announcement in a short video on her Instagram page on Monday afternoon where she asked for financial support and volunteers for the upcoming election.
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“Te Tai Tokerau Party is here. It is a new and refreshed expression of Te Tiriti o Waitangi me Te Whakaputanga. It is mana motuhake live and in action,” she said in the video.
“It is a platform for the needs and aspirations of our whānau. Policies and details of our kaupapa will be announced in the next while.
“In the meantime I need you to sign up as a financial member for Te Tai Tokerau Party … also if you can volunteer and support us in any other way message us [or] email us.'
In a sit-down interview with The Hui - published on Monday afternoon - Kapa-Kingi said she believed some of her former colleagues would also quit Te Pāti Māori before the election in favour of setting up their own electorate-specific party.
The Post approached MP for Tāmaki Makaurau Oriini Kaipara and MP for Hauraki-Waikato Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke for comment.
A spokesperson for Kaipara confirmed she would defend her Tāmaki Makaurau seat on a Te Pāti Māori ticket in November. Maipi-Clarke has not responded.
Kapa-Kingi also suggested on The Hui that she would be open to working with people across the political spectrum - including coalition parties - if it served the interests of Te Tai Tokerau.
Asked if he would be open to working with Kapa-Kingi in his weekly post-Cabinet media conference, National leader Christopher Luxon said he would first need to see her party’s policies before commenting.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins was asked the same thing and said only that he thought Kapa-Kingi had “an uphill battle” running on an independent ticket.
Tākuta Ferris - expelled from Te Pāti Māori alongside Kapa-Kingi last year - remains an independent MP for the Te Tai Tonga electorate. Asked if he was planning to set up his own party a spokesperson simply said, “All will be revealed.”
Te Pāti Māori aknowledged Kapa-Kingi’s announcement shortly after it went public on Monday afternoon. “We wish Mariameno well,” a spokesperson said.
They said te ao Māori had always carried many voices, rohe, whakapapa and expressions of mana motuhake.
“We respect the right of whānau, hapū, iwi, rohe and candidates to determine their own political pathway. Our focus remains clear. Te Pāti Māori will contest all seven Māori electorates in 2026.”
The spokesperson said it had five confirmed candidates in Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Oriini Kaipara, Rawiri Waititi, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Haley Maxwell - adding the remaining candidates would be announced in due course.
“Our movement is bigger than any one seat, candidate, or moment. We are here to remove this Government, restore balance to Aotearoa, and build a future where whānau Māori are housed, fed, cared for, protected, connected to whakapapa, and empowered to thrive. There is no one-term Government without Te Pāti Māori.”
November’s contest is shaping up to be an unpredictable one with Kapa-Kingi going up against Labour’s Willow-Jean Prime and the Greens’ Hūhana Lyndon.
Historically, the seat has swung between Labour and Te Pāti Māori; (Kapa-Kingi had a small margin over Labour’s Kelvin Davis in 2023) but with Lyndon ranking seventh on the Greens’ list and Prime likely to be on Labour’s list the seat could well be a potential “two-for-one” contest.
Te Pāti Māori has consistently polled well below the 5% threshold to return to Parliament on its party vote alone, meaning it will likely need to win at least one of the Māori seats to return next term.
It’s not yet clear what Kapa Kingi’s party’s leadership structure or policy priorities are.
In a long media release out this afternoon, Kapa-Kingi said her party was being established in response to “a growing call for political representation grounded in the realities, needs and aspirations of communities across Aotearoa“.
“Te Tai Tokerau Party is grounded in Te Tai Tokerau, but its kaupapa is national: Te Tiriti justice, local decision-making, healthy whānau, strong communities and a better future for mokopuna.”
Kapa-Kingi said the party would challenge one-size-fits-all politics by building a movement shaped by whenua, whakapapa and the lived realities of communities.
“For too long, our people have been asked to fit into systems that were not designed by us, for us, or with us in mind. Te Tai Tokerau Party is about saying our communities have the wisdom, the data, the leadership and the strength to shape their own political future.”
Kapa-Kingi says her party’s kaupapa would be rooted in He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, with a clear focus on healthy and happy lives for whānau, now and for generations to come.
“This is a party for people across Aotearoa who believe politics must be closer to the communities it serves. We are building from Te Tai Tokerau, but the kaupapa speaks to everyone who believes in mana motuhake, local leadership and the long-term wellbeing of mokopuna.”
Kapa-Kingi said she hoped to spark a broader conversation across Aotearoa about what self-determined politics could look like for other rohe or regions.
“We hope other rohe are inspired to build independent political powerhouses for their people across the motu. Building our Hawaiki looks like working together with other rohe to achieve mutual interests for the long-term wellbeing of mokopuna, while protecting our specific mana and identity. Me mahi ngātahi ka tika.”