Members of Mana Motuhake were having growing concerns about the Labour-Alliance coalition government's Maori policies and were seriously considering leaving the Alliance as a result. Party members were also concerned that Mana Motuhake's identity was becoming subsumed by the Alliance. This led to internal debate around the direction the party was being led, eventually leading Willie Jackson to challenge Sandra Lee for the leadership of the party. A vote was the first item of business at the party's 2001 annual meeting held in Mangere, South Auckland. After initiating the challenge, Jackson had invited Lee to withdraw her name from the ballot, but she decided against it forcing a ballot from party delegates.
Candidates
Sandra Lee
Lee had been an MP since and became Deputy Leader of the Alliance that same year. In 1994 she became leader of Mana Motuhake upon the retirement of party founder Matiu Rata. Questions were also raised over revelations of her personal life which led senior party members to approach her and voice concern that her affair with Te Puni Kokiri adviser Anaru Vercoe was distracting her from the leadership of the party.
Willie Jackson
Jackson, a List MP since, offered a platform of re-energizing the party, which drew support from many newer party members. Jackson was also highly critical of his party's failure to persuade the Government to do more for Māori and said that Mana Motuhake had become "virtually invisible" under the current leadership. Media also suspected that Jackson was looking for revenge against Lee, who effectively blocked his first attempt to get into Parliament in when she insisted that Alamein Kopu be ranked ahead of him on the Alliance Party list.
Result
The following table gives the delegate ballot results:
Name
Votes
Percentage
Willie Jackson
109
75.69%
Sandra Lee
35
24.31%
Supporters of Lee later raised questions about the validity of the vote citing concerns over two busloads of "strangers" that were brought in. The claims were refuted by Jackson who labeled the suggestion as "nonsense".
Aftermath
After his victory was announced, Jackson promised to expel life member Nellie Rata for defecting to ACT and pledged to ask Labour to stand aside for Mana Motuhake in at least one Maori seat at the next election in, a scenario that Labour leaderHelen Clark refused to do stating that Labour dealt with the Alliance, not Mana Motuhake. Jackson also affirmed to the media that he had no intention of leading Mana Motuhake away from either the Alliance or the coalition Government. Lee said that her duties as Alliance Deputy Leader and as a cabinet minister allowed her less time to devote to Mana Motuhake's activities and organisational matters which counted against her in the ballot. She stated "Unfortunately, I didn't have the numbers on the day and that's politics in a democracy" and also pledged to continue ensuring Mana Motuhake's committal to continuing an active role within the coalition government. Alliance leader Jim Anderton publicly voiced his support for Lee, saying "it was Ms Lee's patience and long-term view which had got Mana Motuhake into government".
