Parliament now has more Maori MPs than ever before at 26, and 19 of those Maori MPs have been elected through the general electorates and on party lists, plus the seven allocated Maori seats.

It's time Maori themselves dumped the allocated Maori seats, as they are no longer required to have Maori elected to Parliament.

This would enable those seats to be allocated to the independents, which aren't represented.

I've always run as an independent every three years, and because I'm not aligned to a political party - like all 21 current independents across the country - I haven't got a hope in Hades of being elected under the current political party system.

So it's time to allocate seats in parliament for the independents, for some of the same reason the Maori seats, now not needed, were established.

The top seven highest-polling Independents in the country should be allocated the seats. This would give a fairer broader overall electoral representation for the country.

Maori now don't need the Maori seats any longer, but we do need independent representation in Parliament.

Rusty Kane, Brookfield.