Legitimacy of whole election now in doubt?

Press, 14 May 1979, Page 1

Legitimacy of whole election now in doubt?

Electoral Court comments about Maori electorates have raised very serious doubts about the legitimacy of the whole election last year, said Mr A. D. Mcßobie, a political scientist and co-author of “Election ’78,” in Christchurch yesterday.

He was referring to comments by the Court in its judgment on the Hunua election petition. Dealing with the “carrying forward” of the names of Maori electors who had not exercised their option to be on a Maori roll, the Court said: “Had this present petition related to a Maori electorate, it seems difficult to see how a court could have avoided declaring all the elections in Maori electorates to have been invalid on the ground that the rolls contained an unspecified number of unqualified persons.”

“If all Maori seats were invalidated if they came before the Court, it is highly probable that many

other electorates are in the same boat,” Mr Mcßobie said. “It seems it is all right as far as the general electorates are concerned, but not for Maori electorates,” he said. An estimated 90,000 to 115,000 eligible voters failed to fill in enrolment cards. While there were probably more mistakes in Maori rolls because of a literacy factor, general electorate rolls also had many errors. A survey in Christchurch Central showed that the main roll was incorrect by 50 per cent, Mr Mcßobie said. Most other Christchurch electorates had an error rate of 12 to 18 per cent.

The Electoral Court’s doubt about the four Maori electorates would seem to be a double standard. In some ways the Court went beyond its terms of reference by even making comments about Maori electorates. There had been disturbing anomalies in electorates such as Hunua, Lyttelton, Hastings, Gisborne, and Invercargill Mr Mcßobie said. Both parties should accept their fair measure of responsibility for the “fiasco” surrounding electoral seats and rolls. Recount ordered, Page 2.