Tight Five

The Tight Five was a nickname given to the five Māori elected to the New Zealand Parliament in 1996 from the centrist/populist New Zealand First party.

New Zealand First had been founded in 1993 by Winston Peters, a former National Party Minister of Māori Affairs. He is half-Maori, and his party quickly won support from Māori who felt that the Labour Party was taking their support for granted. In that year's election, Tau Henare, great-grandson of legendary Māori politician Taurekareka Henare, unseated the Labour MP in the Northern Maori seat, one of five seats reserved for Māori, and became New Zealand First's second MP. This broke a long Labour hold on the Māori seats. Soon after that election, Peters named Henare as deputy leader of New Zealand First.

The party was the biggest beneficiary of New Zealand's switch to mixed member proportional representation. In the 1996 elections, New Zealand First won 17 seats. In addition, it swept all five Māori seats. Henare was reelected in Te Tai Tokerau (the former Northern Maori). He was joined by Rana Waitai in Te Puku O Te Whenua, Tuku Morgan in Te Tai Hauāuru, Tuariki Delamere in Te Tai Rawhiti, and Tu Wyllie in Te Tai Tonga. The four new MPs each pushed Labour into second place. When New Zealand First entered a coalition with National with Peters as deputy Prime Minister, Henare and Delamere joined Peters in Cabinet. Henare served as Minister of Māori Affairs and Delamere as Minister of Immigration and Pacific Affairs.

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