Politics of The Cook Islands - Recent Political History

Recent Political History

The 1999 election produced a hung Parliament. Cook Islands Party leader Geoffrey Henry remained Prime Minister, but was replaced after a month by Joe Williams following a coalition realignment. A further realignment three months later saw Williams replaced by Democratic Party leader Terepai Maoate. A third realignment saw Maoate replaced mid-term by his deputy Robert Woonton in 2002, who ruled with the backing of the CIP.

The Democratic Party won a majority in the 2004 election, but Woonton lost his seat, and was replaced by Jim Marurai. In 2005 Marurai left the Democrats due to an internal disputes, founding his own Cook Islands First Party. He continued to govern with the support of the CIP, but in 2005 returned to the Democrats. The loss of several by-elections forced a snap-election in 2006, which produced a solid majority for the Democrats and saw Marurai continue as Prime Minister.

In December 2009, Marurai sacked his Deputy Prime Minister, Terepai Maoate, sparking a mass-resignation of Democratic Party cabinet members He and new Deputy Prime Minister Robert Wigmore were subsequently expelled from the Democratic Party. Marurai appointed three junior members of the Democratic party to Cabinet, but on 31 December 2009 the party withdrew its support.