New Zealand's Maori Party may hold key to general elections

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
New Zealand's indigenous Maori minority went into elections Saturday inspired by Barack Obama's victory in the United States and with a chance of securing the balance of power at home. Obama's election this week as the United States' first African-American president reverberated across the world as a triumph over old stereotypes, a chord that rang especially true for minority groups. "This is like the dream of Martin Luther King, having Barack Obama become president," said Pita Sharples, co-leader of the Maori Party, New Zealand's only all-indigenous political party. "And I think that's a message to the whole world, that we can build on our past and move forward. I think America has done that." Maori account for 15 percent of New Zealand's 3.4 million population and are its poorest, worst-housed and least-healthy citizens, suffering higher unemployment and crime rates than most others.