The Opportunities Party (Top) leader Gareth Morgan will today reveal his only bottom line: he will not work with any party which wants to get rid of the Maori seats.
Mr Morgan is giving a speech at the Kingitanga anniversary in Waikato this morning, where he will outline his non-negotiable position on the seven Maori electorates.
He has championed the fact that The Opportunities Party could work with anyone in coalition. But this bottom line would all but rule him out of any coalition which included New Zealand First.
Mr Morgan will not support any government which puts the Maori seats at risk, including through a referendum.
National also has a formal policy of abolishing the Maori seats, though Prime Minister Bill English has said that the party is not pursuing it. His predecessor Sir John Key once warned that there would be "hikois from hell" if National tried to scrap the 150-year-old Maori electorates.
They were created in 1867 to improve Maori representation in Parliament and have survived numerous attempts at abolition. Initially four seats, they expanded to the current seven seats in 2002.
Top is not running any candidates in the Maori seats. It is understood that Mr Morgan will condemn Labour and the Greens for running candidates in these electorates, saying that they should be reserved for parties which are primarily focused on kaupapa Maori.
A One-News Colmar Brunton poll released last month showed that 55% of New Zealanders wanted the seats to stay and 36% wanted them to be scrapped immediately or in future.
While Mr Morgan is not appealing for Maori votes, he wants New Zealanders to better understand the role of the Treaty of Waitangi and for it to play a greater role in New Zealand's democracy. His party has a policy of making Te Reo Maori compulsory in schools.
Top is currently polling at around 2%, and needs 5% to get into Parliament.
