Greens candidate Tania Waikato uses bikini selfies to boost young Māori voter enrolment
A Green Party candidate is posting provocative photos on social media to encourage young Māori to register to vote, sparking both criticism and impressive engagement numbers.
Tania Waikato, the Green Party candidate for Waiariki, has launched a social media campaign featuring bikini selfies and photos of attractive men to direct young Māori voters to electoral enrolment links. The campaign, which she describes as targeted at the 19-24 demographic where only 54 per cent of eligible voters are enrolled, has generated over 500,000 views in eight days according to her posts. Some Māori women have criticised the approach as hypersexualising and reinforcing colonial stereotypes, though Waikato notes the campaign has been more effective than nine months of previous efforts. Voting enrolment numbers have historically been low among young people, particularly Māori.
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