Mona Ioane is a

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

politician and former

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

. He is a member of 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 ...

. Ioane is a former police officer with 22 years experience. He was elected to the Cook Islands Parliament for the seat of

Vaipae–Tautu Vaipae–Tautu is a Cook Islands electoral division returning one member to the Cook Islands Parliament. Its current representative is Kitai Teinakore, who has held the seat since 2018. The electorate was created in 1981, when the ''Constituti ...

in the 2010 election. His election was the subject of an electoral petition from losing

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 ...

candidate

Kete Ioane Kete Ioane (30 October 1950 – 13 February 2015) was a Cook Islands politician. He was a Cook Islands Democratic Party Member of Parliament from 1999 to 2010 and served as a cabinet minister between 2006 and 2009. Biography Ioane was born in ...

, who alleged that he had used his position on the Aitutaki Cyclone Appeal committee to dispense aid to bribe voters. In April 2014, shortly before the 2014 election, he was appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Education and Tourism, replacing

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, ...

. He was narrowly re-elected in 2014, but his election was challenged by an election petition, and in December 2014 it was voided after he was found guilty of bribery by the Court of Appeal. He subsequently contested and won the

2015 Vaipae-Tautu by-election A by-election was held in the Cook Islands constituency of Vaipae-Tautu on 31 March 2015. It was won by Mona Ioane, the Cook Islands Party candidate, consolidating the ruling party's slender majority in Parliament. Context and candidates In the ...

, but was excluded from Cabinet. In September 2016 he was elected Deputy Speaker. Ioane did not win re-election at the 2018 election, losing to

Kitai Teinakore Kitai Manuela Teinakore (born 23 October 1957) is a Cook Islands politician and former member of the Cook Islands Parliament. He is a member of the Cook Islands Democratic Party. Teinakore was born on Aitutaki and educated at Araura School, V ...

References

Living people Members of the Parliament of the Cook Islands Cook Islands Party politicians Cook Island lawyers People from Aitutaki Year of birth missing (living people) Government ministers of the Cook Islands {{CookIslands-politician-stub