Michael Laws accuses mainstream media of hypocrisy over MMP overhang strategy
October 21, 2026
Summarised by Centrist
Broadcaster and NZ First candidate Michael Laws has accused mainstream political commentators of hypocrisy for condemning centre-right efforts to exploit MMP's overhang provisions, after Te Pāti Māori had already promoted a similar strategy to benefit the left.
Laws argues that voters are being criticised for using legal electoral rules, while commentators who previously showed less concern are now calling for political intervention.
Speaking on The Platform, Laws singled out The Post's Henry Cooke, Democracy Project commentator Bryce Edwards, and 1News political producer Tom Day.
"I didn't hear it from Mr Cook, Henry Cook of the Post. I didn't hear it from Bryce Edwards of the Democracy Project. I didn't hear it from Tom Day of One News," Laws said, referring to criticism of Te Pāti Māori's earlier strategy.
He accused the commentators of condemning centre-right efforts to respond to the same tactic.
"How incredibly typical, how incredibly hypocritical."
Te Pāti Māori has encouraged supporters to vote for its electorate candidates while giving their party votes to Labour or the Greens, potentially creating additional parliamentary seats through MMP's overhang provisions.
Centre-right campaigners, including Don Brash and Harry Mowbray, have since advocated voting for National in electorates and for ACT or NZ First on the party vote, potentially producing a substantially larger overhang.
Under MMP rules, voters can legally support different parties with their electorate and party votes. An overhang occurs when a party wins more electorates than its party vote would ordinarily entitle it to.
Editor’s note: Edwards has called on both major party leaders to condemn deliberate overhang engineering, arguing that organised campaigns undermine proportional representation.
Cooke has proposed that Labour and National agree to seek another election rather than form a government dependent on an overhang.
Te Pāti Māori's approach has also drawn criticism, including from Edwards in August and a Post editorial that described its strategy as within the rules but effectively cheating. Tom Day has criticised both sides as well.
However, Laws questions the intensity of the reaction to the centre-right campaign, arguing that the same degree of condemnation was not evident when Te Pāti Māori first promoted the approach.
Community Discussion
Comment Policy