Maori Party Contempt For Labour

We are not always a fan of political analysis by Chris Trotter but thought his commentary today in the ODT very accurate. He focuses on the growing rift between Labour and the Maori Party, and on the attitudes of Hone Harawira in particular. We have posted before on our growing respect for Hone, and for his oratory skills in particular. Trotter concedes that National is almost certainly going to have the largest number of seats in the next Parliament. He also sees Maori as being unlikely to enter a coalition with Labour. As a result he concludes, "With the Greens struggling to surmount the 5% MMP threshold, and NZ First unlikely to clear it at all, Labour's only realistic chance of forming a government depends absolutely on gaining Maori Party support. Helen Clark's already weak political position just got a whole lot weaker."