“Rawiri Waititi says that he isn’t a fan of democracy, calling it the tyranny of the majority, but also championing a system where the majority can banish your whole family. It goes to show for all his theatrics, Waititi doesn’t get democracy or human rights,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“When asked by Newshub what he would do if he could change Parliament, Waititi said “I’m not a fan of democracy, because democracy is a tyranny of the majority. I think Māori had a form of democracy where the collective made a decision…. If you didn’t uphold what the community wanted you were gone, not just you, your whole whanau was gone. You’re out.”

“This is a chilling statement from an elected Member of Parliament, who is again running in a democratic general election. It explains his behaviour in Parliament for the past three years, he’s not here to uphold democracy, he’s here to wreck it.

“Waititi has shown voters he doesn’t respect democracy in New Zealand. New Zealanders want to elect a government who can restore the economy, get crime under control, provide effective public services, and end division through co-government. Members who openly want to cause division and undermine democracy jeopardise this.

“New Zealand is at a constitutional crossroad. In one direction is liberal democracy. In the other is co-government; power-sharing between one ethnic group and all others. New Zealand can’t afford to head further down the path of division. Waititi has articulated exactly why we need to keep the left coalition out of Government.

“With National telling The Hui they won’t commit to letting Kiwis have a say on co-governance, it is clearer than ever that we need a strong ACT presence to ensure the next Government is committed to ending division by race. The only vote to end co-government is a party vote for ACT.

“ACT’s vision for New Zealand to our liberal democratic traditions, upholding universal human rights, with growing ethnic diversity. While others offer inaction and instability, only ACT will make sure New Zealand is a truly modern, multi-ethnic, liberal democracy.”

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