Hamish McNeilly profiles Te Tai Tonga, the southern Maori electorate long dominated by the name Tirikatene.
Welcome to Te Tai Tonga, New Zealand's largest electorate.
The seat, which comprises all of the South Island, Stewart Island, the Chatham Islands, and Wellington with part of the Hutt Valley for good measure, is held by Labour MP Rino Tirikatene.
It is a name which has dominated southern Maori politics.
Between 1868 and 1996, Te Tai Tonga was known as Southern Maori - one of the four original New Zealand parliamentary Maori electorates.
That electorate was represented for 64 years by the name Tirikatene - first Eruera Tirikatene (Ratana/Labour MP from 1932-67) and then his daughter Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan (Labour MP 1967-96).
That name continued in 2011, when Rino Tirikatene, the nephew of Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan, and the grandson of Eruera, won the seat of Te Tai Tonga from one-term Maori Party MP, Rahui Katene.
A recent Native Affairs poll revealed 43% of the 500 people surveyed said they would vote for Labour, and 48% would choose Mr Tirikatene as their representative.
That poll was taken before the start of the official campaign, and also failed to take into account the high-profile entrance of former Labour MP turned Mana candidate, Georgina Beyer.
On a visit to Dunedin this month, Ms Beyer said her campaign was badly under-funded, and was running on ''thin air''.
Also vying for the seat is former Otakou resident Dora Langsbury, of the Green Party, who last election got 2546 electorate votes and more than doubled the party vote from 7.2% in 2008 - behind the Labour, Maori and National parties - to 15.8% in 2011, second only to Labour.
As in 2011, no National Party candidate will contest the election.
Mr Tirikatene's main challenger is likely to be new Maori Party candidate Ngaire Button.
A former Christchurch city councillor for nine years, who also served as deputy mayor in the earthquake affected city, Mrs Button may struggle with a lack of profile across the electorate.
Several Maori sources said Mr Tirikatene, who has offices in Wellington, Christchurch, Nelson and Invercargill, was not as visible in the Otago region as former Te Tai Tonga MP Rahui Katene.
Last year, the political newsletter Trans-Tasman, in its annual ratings of the country's MPs noted Mr Tirikatene ''seems nervous in Parliament''.
''Was expected to make an impact but hasn't. Really needs to raise his game.''
Dr Paerau Warbrick, of Te Tumu: School of Maori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies, said polls in the left-leaning Maori electorates were 'terrible''.
''They have always been problematic. But when you have numbers that high and the mood is out there, then realistically, Tirikatene will take the seat.
''It is a big electorate ... it is bigger than Belgium ... it really is ridiculous. No MP can really service this electorate.''
Labour needed to grow its party vote in Te Tai Tonga, but had to overcome the traditionally low turnout - just 57% in 2011.
The Wellington population decided the outcome of the seat, and issues of Government spending, such as jobs, welfare and education, were expected to dominate decision-making.
