Regarding Maori seats, iirc, Maori voters can choose to vote either in the Maori or the "normal" seat - is there any data on how many choose either? and what sorts of people choose which?
I assume that people voting in Maori electorates tend to be more traditionalist/more likely to be Maori speakers?
Also, correct me if I am wrong - but I've always thought of the Maori party as being fairly conservative on many issues, coalition government with the Nats and all, but allying with Mana seems to indicate otherwise?
Maori voters to my understand choose whether they want to be on the Maori electoral roll or the standard electoral roll when they register to vote, and seats are distributed based on the number of registered voters on the Maori rolls vs. the standard rolls. When a Maori voter shows up to vote, if they are on the Maori roll, they can only vote in Maori seats, and, if they are on the standard roll, they can only vote in the standard seats. Given the Maori percentage of the population vs. percentage of the electoral rolls, somewhat more than half of all Maori are registered on the Maori rolls.
The Maori Party is to my understanding a lot like other ethnic group-based parties around the world: ideologically malleable so long as they get pork for their ethnic group.