It was prompted on 29 April by the resignation of Matiu Rata, a former member of the Labour Party who was establishing a new group, Mana Motuhake.

[1] As Northern Maori was a safe Labour seat, having held it since 1938 election, there was a large amount of interest in the candidacy.

The sheer geographic size of the electorate also caused interest from candidates to be spread widely, Northern Maori stretched from Cape Reinga in the north to Panmure in the south.

[6] Anticipating that Rata would force a by-election, the Social Credit Party selected Joe Toia, a Dargaville forestry foreman, in March 1980.

[9] The National Party did not contest the election, a decision that was criticised by Social Credit deputy-leader Jeremy Dwyer as "chickening out".