Cook Islanders vote for less or more of the same

1.00pm - By ANGELA GREGORY Pacific issues reporter


The Cook Islands, one of the world's smallest democracies, goes to the polls tomorrow in an election which many hope will bring new voices into a Parliament considered too big for the dwindling population it serves.

The past five years have brought swinging allegiances in Cook Islands politics and frequent changes of Government.

The country, self-governing in free association with New Zealand, is ruled by the Democratic Party of Prime Minister Dr Robert Woonton, facing the opposition Cook Islands Party, led by Sir Geoffrey Henry.

This election will be a two-party race, but energetic independent candidates are pressing hard for representation.

Voters will also decide in a referendum whether to reduce the parliamentary term from five years to four.

Cook Islands elections usually attract a high turn-out, although the number of eligible voters has dropped from 9864 at the last election to 9712 this year. And a Cook Islands News poll of 200 people just over a week ago indicated 11 per cent did not plan to vote.

Thirty-four per cent intended voting for the Democratic Party, 24 per cent for the Cook Islands Party and 11 per cent for independents.

There is growing public cynicism in the country about politicians, who are increasingly seen as self-serving.

Many voters are also tired of the shenanigans of the likes of maverick MP Norman George, regarded as the chief string puller in the Parliament.

George, who recently formed the Tumu Enua Party, is a lawyer and former New Zealand police officer whose style is compared locally to that of New Zealand's Winston Peters. George has held the balance of power, and hopes to do so again.

Many established MPs, meanwhile, have protected their seats by keeping constituents loyal with promises, and in some cases supplies of pigs for important family events.

Cook Islander John Herrmann, former director of the University of South Pacific centre in Rarotonga, said he hoped this election would turn the tide in favour of a new crop of independent candidates who wanted to reform the political system.

"People don't really trust the politicians we have now," he said.


A former schoolteacher and university lecturer, Herrmann was a member of the commission of political review which recommended changes to the Cook Islands system, including reducing the number of MPs from 25 to 17.

One of the seats at the time of the review was for an MP elected by Cook Islanders who had been living outside the country - mainly in New Zealand - for up to three years.

That seat has since been abolished, but Herrmann says further reductions are needed.

"At the time of the review, I think there was about one MP to 700 Cook Islanders compared to about one MP to 45,000 New Zealanders."

The relatively large Cook Islands Parliament was a drain on a country in which the population had declined from 18,000 at the time of the last election to about 13,000.

Most had taken advantage of their dual citizenship with New Zealand to leave for better educational and employment opportunities and and an improved living standard.

"What they see on television is what they want to have."

Herrmann was disappointed that more of the commission's recommendations, published in 1998, had not been adopted.

They had been largely based on the views of Cook Islanders consulted during the review.

Most had favoured reducing the term of Parliament to four years, which would need the support of two-thirds of the voters.

Herrmann believes the referendum is likely to succeed, although it is hard to predict the response from the outer islands, where about one-third of the population lives without easy access to newspapers.

Their main source of information tends to be local MPs, who would be against reducing the parliamentary term.

"They are going to be saying, 'I can't finish my projects, I need more time'."

The commission's other recommendations included limits on the time a person could sit in Parliament (16 years), be a Cabinet minister (12 years) or be Prime Minister (eight years). But these proposals are not being voted on.

"The idea was to limit it so no one held a seat forever. We've had several there for more than 20 years, and the majority of people don't believe it's a very good thing ... Certain things can get out of hand."

The commission had also recommended that the Queen's representative and Parliament's Speaker be independently appointed and those positions be limited to nine years.

"It was felt that appointments of importance should not be left to the party in power."

The urge for reform had prompted the independents, mostly women, to seek election. Herrmann said independents had stood before in the Cook Islands, but none had been elected.

"I suspect that, for the first time in the history of our country, independents will take a much more significant percentage of the vote. Their voices are much stronger now."


Jon Jonassen, of the department of political science at Brigham Young University in Hawaii, reported for an East-West Centre political review of the Cook Islands for the year to June last year that Cook Islanders lacked confidence in their Parliament and Cabinet.

He said that during the year, the Cooks had a worrying decline in population, regression in islanders' purchasing power, a deterioration in work and leadership ethics, and continued public pressure for political reform.

"Land controversies and Government-created jobs engrossed the attention of leaders, a few of whom tended to abuse their status in order to advance family interests," Jonassen said.

As foreign workers entered the country to take up promised employment, the local population declined, mainly because of the lack of work.


Jonassen said Prime Minister Woonton was heavily criticised for taking his wife on long, expensive, overseas trips, and members of Parliament were accused of "not giving their constituencies value for money".

Constant Cabinet reshuffles and rumours of reshuffles added fuel to the fire.

About 2000 people last year signed a petition calling for political change, including the abolition of the overseas seat in Parliament.

But the proposals would reduce the total seats to 24, an even number, increasing the possibility of a hung Parliament.

There was also pressure to eliminate the constituency of Tamarua in Mangaia Island, which has the smallest constituency population in the Cooks.

By June last year, only the overseas seat had been abolished.

Jonassen said MPs did much of their work in irregular sessions that often went unnoticed by most Cook Islanders.

The islands' development seemed to depend on outside aid, but it remained to be seen whether new dollars would create jobs.

Jonassen said that during the year of his review, the lack of job opportunities at home continued to push young Cook Islanders out of the country.

The high cost of living was also a great disincentive to remaining in the islands.

But successes in tourism, pearl farming, and banking had enhanced business profits and increased tax revenue, Jonassen said.

"However, a poor and outmoded salary structure, a spiralling cost of living, and overconfident, self-serving, incompetent politicians paint a bleak future."

Jonassen said it was hoped that things might change for the better with proposed laws on immigration and land, as well as tomorrow's election.

"But a better future depends on educated parliamentarians, moral leadership, realistic Government and private sector goals and actions, and the tenacity of a friendly and hospitable Cook Islands people."