The Tekau-mā-rua (Tūheitia's privy council) convened a meeting of tribal leaders from throughout New Zealand to chose his successor by consensus.

The process of choosing the Māori monarch lay with the Tekau-mā-rua, who were to meet and begin deliberations on the night of 3 September.

[5] The job of the fourteen members of the Tekau-mā-rua was to convene a wānanga (forum) of tribal leaders who would choose the monarch by consensus.

[8] The wānanga met in the Māhinārangi meeting house at Tūrangawaewae for six hours and chose Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō, the daughter of Tūheitia.

[10] Aged 27 at the time of the election, she is substantially younger than the then-youngest reigning monarch of a sovereign nation, the Emir of Qatar.

In 2013, Tūheitia had announced that his second-born son Korotangi Paki would not succeed him as king due to concerns about his readiness.