The Maori Electoral Option Campaign: Problems of Measuring 'Success'

Abstract

The latest Maori Electoral Option (MEO) resulted in a seventh Maori seat in Parliament contested in the recent election. Over a four-month period in 2001, 18,738 Maori exercised their Option to shift electoral rolls - three-quarters of them moving from the General roll to the Maori roll. This paper looks at the latest Option and its effectiveness as a communication campaign. The MEO is controversial because many New Zealanders are divided about the democratic fairness of separate Maori seats. The spectre of a dozen Maori electorates, if all Maori join the Maori roll, is unnerving to opponents who concentrate their fire upon the cost and conduct of the campaign. The MEO challenges traditional assumptions about objective political communication. The Option pioneered a systemized method of kanohi ki te kanohi (face-to-face) communication. Developed by Maori for Maori, the model has been used in other government communication campaigns but remains controversial because of the lack of centralised control over the delivered message and the difficulty of measuring the campaign's success. This paper explores the issues surrounding its methods and effectiveness.