Cook Islands Party
| Cook Islands Party | |
|---|---|
| Party leader | Henry Puna |
| founding | 1964 |
| ' |
10/24 15th Parliament, 2018– |
Cook Islands Party is a nationalist political party in the Cook Islands . It was the first party to be formed in the Cook Islands in 1965 and remains one of two leading parties to this day.
From 1999 to 2005, the party partly participated in coalition governments. In the 2006 elections, it reached second place and became the largest opposition party . It won parliamentary elections in 2010 and 2014 and is currently the government. In 2018 she became the second strongest force in parliament again. The party leader is Prime Minister Henry Puna .
history
The Cook Islands Party was founded on June 15, 1964. The founder was Albert Henry , a former leader of the Cook Islands Progressive Association , which campaigned for greater self-determination in the 1940s. The main objectives at the time were economic development, maintaining ties with New Zealand , protecting the traditional culture of the Cook Islands and improving the recognition of traditional titles. Within a month of its inception, the party rallied more than 2,000 members in Rarotonga.
Before independence, the party fought to reduce the residence requirement for candidates for the Legislative Assembly in order to allow Henry to run at all. The campaign was unsuccessful, however, and Henry was replaced by his sister Marguerite Story in the 1965 election . The party won a strong majority of 14 seats, which they used immediately to amend the constitution and reduce the residence requirement. When the necessary law was passed in the New Zealand Parliament , Story resigned. Henry was elected in the subsequent elections (1965 Te-Ao-O-Tonga by-election) and became the first Prime Minister of the Cook Islands .
The party remained the dominant force for the next decade, but lost power in the 1978 elections after it became known that it was involved in large-scale electoral fraud. Albert Henry resigned as party leader and was replaced by his cousin Geoffrey Henry . As a result, he was even convicted of conspiracy and embezzlement and lost his title of nobility .
The party remained in opposition for the following decade, then came back to power between 1989 and 1999. From 1999 to 2005 she partly participated in coalition governments. She won 10 seats in 1999 and nine in 2004. In 2006 their longtime leader, Geoffrey Henry , was replaced by Henry Puna , but Puna was punished along with his deputy in the general election a few months later. While he remained the party leader, the opposition leader became Tom Marsters .
On September 26, 2006, the party won 45.3% of the vote and 7 out of 24 seats in the elections, making it the largest opposition party.
In July 2010, after a dispute over the choice of candidates, MP for Avatiu / Ruatonga Albert (Peto) Nicholas left the party and founded the Tumu party . The splinter party received support from influential CIP supporter Tupui Ariki Henry , the son of founder and former Prime Minister Albert Henry.
The CIP won the 2010 and 2014 elections, so Henry Puna served as Prime Minister for two terms. The 2018 elections resulted in a “hung parliament”.
Party leader
- Albert Henry (1964–1979)
- Geoffrey Henry (1979-2006)
- Henry Puna (2006 - present)
Individual evidence
- ^ David Stone: The Rise of the Cook Islands Party. In: Journal of the Polynesian Society. 1965 vol. 74, 1: 92.
- ^ Stone 1965: 94.
- ↑ Stone 1965: 99.
- ↑ Stone 1965: 98.
- ^ A b David Stone: Parties and politics in Polynesia: Political trends in the self-governing Cook Islands. In: Journal of the Polynesian Society. 1970, vol. 79, 2: 131.
- ^ Cook Islands Parliament . Cook islands Government. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
- ↑ New party from CIP fallout. In: Cook Islands News. 2010-07-03.
literature
- David Stone: The Rise of the Cook islands Party. In: Journal of the Polynesian Society. 1965, vol. 74, 1: 80-111.