A by-election was held in the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

constituency of Vaipae-Tautu on 31 March 2015. It was won by Mona Ioane, the

Cook Islands Party The Cook Islands Party is a nationalist political party in the Cook Islands. It was the first political party founded in the Cook Islands, and one of the two major parties of the islands' politics since 1965. From 1999 until 2005 it sometimes ...

candidate, consolidating the ruling party's slender majority in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Context and candidates

In the July 2014 general election, the contest for the Vaipae-Tautu seat had been won by

candidate Mona Ioane, who went on to serve as Education Minister in Prime Minister

Henry Puna Henry Tuakeu Puna (born 29 July 1949) is a Cook Islands politician, and the current secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum. He was Prime Minister of the Cook Islands from November 2010 to October 2020. Since 2006 he has been leader of th ...

's government. Ioane's election to Parliament was voided by the Court of Appeal on 17 December, reducing the Puna government to a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...

. The by-election would therefore be crucial both to the government and to the Opposition

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. If they won the seat, the Democrats "could assume power in coalition with the

One Cook Islands Movement The One Cook Islands Movement, formerly known as "Cook Islands One" is a political party in the Cook Islands. It was established in May 2014. The party was founded by former Cabinet Minister Teina Bishop after his resignation from Cabinet and exp ...

" (OCIM). OCIM leader

Teina Bishop Teina Bishop (born 11 April 1959) is a Cook Islands politician, former Cabinet Minister, and leader of the One Cook Islands Movement. He was jailed for corruption in 2016. Bishop was born in Aitutaki and was educated at Araura Primary school ...

indicated his party would not run a candidate against Democratic candidate Kete Ioane, and would in fact support the latter's campaign. The by-election was initially due to be held on 17 February 2015."Cook Islands by-election revives opposition hopes"
Radio New Zealand, 24 December 2014 But Democratic Party candidate's Kete Ioane's sudden death on 13 February led to a postponement. The election will now be held on 31 March. At the start of March, the One Cook Islands Movement reversed its decision not to stand against the Democrats, and announced Amiria Davey as its candidate. The Cook Islands Party maintained Mona Ioane as its candidate. The Democrats selected Kete Ioane's widow, Teina Ioane.

March 2015 by-election result

The results are as follows:"Ruling Cooks party wins by-election"
Radio New Zealand International, 2 April 2015

July 2014 general election result

References

{{Cook Islands elections, state=expanded By-elections in the Cook Islands 2015 elections in Oceania 2015 in the Cook Islands