Cook Islands Party

The Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown says cost of living and housing are among the major items on the agenda for his new government's first 100 days.

Mr Brown's Cook Islands party won a large majority in last month's general election.

A Cook Islands news poll before the election found 50% of respondents ranked the cost of living and inflation, including fuel prices, water and power bills, housing, transportation and consumer goods, as their primary concern.

Meanwhile, two of the Cook Islands Party's 13 seats are being challenged in election petitions, but the party also has the support of six independent MPs, giving them a good majority within the 24-seat House.

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Cost of living, water tariffs, and seabed mining were prominent domestic issues, alongside debate over Prime Minister Mark Brown's management of relations with New Zealand and China.

The preliminary count gave Brown's Cook Islands party 12 seats, enough to put it in the strongest position, but initially one short of a majority on its own.

Cook Islands United won four seats, while a large group of independents again held the balance.

The balance shifted rather quickly.

By August 18, it was reported that independents joining the government would expand the Cook Islands Party block to 18 seats.

The new supporters included Agnes Armstrong, Rimilpoili Mokoroa, and Tetangi Matapo, three women elected from Mangania.

Their decision was framed locally as a way to bring Mangania closer to the center of

government decision-making.

Prime Minister James Marapi says his government has a plan for the way forward for either outcome of the vote, affirmative and negative.

The Cook Islands Party is set to return to power for a historic fifth consecutive term.

It comes after the party secured 13 out of the 24 parliamentary seats following the final count in the 2026 general election.

Cook Islands Party leader and caretaker Prime Minister Mark Brown, who was first elected to Parliament in 2010, will serve his fifth consecutive term as an MP.

The country's main opposition in the previous Parliament, the Democratic Party, lost all its seats, with both its leader and deputy leader defeated.

Cook Islands News reports Mr Brown's CIP has an unprecedented supermajority after it also received support from six independents, bringing the incoming government caucus to 19 seats in the 24-member House.

Yes.

Um, it was favorable for the governing Cook Islands party.

Cook Island News reports- Uh, the ruling party has gained an extra seat, securing an absolute majority of 13 seats in a 24-seat parliament.

The opposition Cook Islands United Party has four members securing seats, while seven independents have secured seats.

Kia ora.

Mark Brown, the, uh, leader of the Cook Islands Party, is back in power.

Uh, it looks like he got as many as 18 seats in the 24-seat House, so that would be like a fourth or fifth consecutive term the Cook Islands Party's in charge.

But, um, yeah, a comfortable win, and I guess, uh, people said they were voting along the issue of, um, cost of living.

Really didn't matter to them that Mark Brown's government had the spat last year, of course, with New Zealand about his government entering a deal with China at the start of last year.

This is Pacific Beat on ABC Radio Australia.

Today on the show, the Cook Islands elections see the Cook Islands party maintain their hold on parliament as the opposing Democratic Party suffers its worst ever performance.

Pacific trade unions say they should be involved in the recruitment process for Pacific workers in Australia and New Zealand after reports of abscondance and exploitation.

We want to continue working with our Australian unions and New Zealand unions so that they help us.

It's a, it's, it's a tough situation to be in, right? But, you know, what's, what's tougher is, you know, going to the federal government and asking for things to be changed, you know, when they're going a certain direction.

And that's CNMI Congresswoman Kimberly King-Hines speaking to reporter Jordan Fennell.

[upbeat music] All right, as the dust settles on the Cook Islands general election, one thing is clear: the Cook Islands Party remains the dominant force in the country's politics.

With 12 seats secured and just one more MP needed to guarantee a parliamentary majority, Mark Brown is all but assured of another term as prime minister.

Cooks has a parliament, um, of 24 seats.

The incumbent party, the Cook Islands party, um, led by Prime Minister Mark Brown, um, has, uh, currently 12 of those 24 seats.

He needs 13 to be able to govern alone, um, which is actually an increase in the, his, uh, or, I guess, the proportion that he had, uh, from the last election.

So, you know, it's being, it's being sort of portrayed as, um, a pretty strong showing by the Cook Islands Party and by Mark Brown and a, you know, reasonable, uh, statement from the electorate of support for him.

Um, he'll be, uh-

So with 12 out of 24, he, he, he has to then have a coalition of some sort, does he, or how does that work?

He would, but the final result has not yet been, uh, declared because, um, some of those outer islands, and particularly up in Pukapuka and Nassau, um, they're still waiting for the final tally to be declared.

And that's quite significant because, um, well, significant for political nuts because the, um, the local MP is also the foreign minister, um, Tenika Alikana.

I'm Ta Fai.

The Cook Islands Party, or CIP, could secure a super majority for its fifth consecutive term in government after three independent female candidates who won seats in Mangaia agreed to join the party.

Cook Islands News reports CIP leads following the preliminary count of the twenty twenty-six general election with twelve seats, leaving them just one seat short of forming a government.

The party had hoped to secure that decisive seat in Pukapuka, Nassau, where incumbent CIP MP, Tingika Elikana, trails independent candidate, Dr. Kirianu Mio, by three votes, with six declaration votes remaining to be counted.