Early general elections were held in the Cook Islands on 3 December 1974. The result was a victory for the ruling

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 ...

(CIP), which won 14 of the 22 seats in the Legislative Assembly with 64% of the vote. The

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 ...

won the remaining eight seats. CIP leader Albert Henry remained Premier.

Background

The early elections were called by Henry following a visit to New Zealand for the funeral of Prime Minister Norman Kirk, stating that he also wanted to hold a vote on self-government or integration into New Zealand. A planned referendum would have seen voters given the options of independence, self-government or integration. However, the referendum plans were later dropped.

Campaign

Henry's government refused to allow the three thousand Cook Islanders living in New Zealand to vote by post, most of whom were expected to vote for the Democratic Party. Henry also obstructed attempts to charter an Air New Zealand plane for voters to fly home.Islander examines the rule of the House of Henry
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', September 1976, p8 However, the Democratic Party was able to charter an Air Nauru Boeing 727 to fly in some voters. Voters paid their own fares, and the flights were open to all regardless of party affiliation. The tactic was copied by the government at the next election, though with public money. Democratic Party attempts to distribute leaflets to outer islands were also stopped by Henry.

Results

Elected members

Aftermath

After the CIP lost their two-thirds majority and ability to amend the constitution, Henry threatened to take action against Democratic Party supporters working in the islands' civil service. When the newly elected Assembly convened,

Marguerite Story Marguerite Nora Eikura Kitimira Story, (née Henry, 11 May 1922 – 25 September 2009), was the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Cook Islands from 1965 to 1979. She was the first female cabinet member in the Cook Islands and the first w ...

was re-elected as Speaker.The status quo
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', March 1975, p21

References

{{Cook Islands elections Elections in the Cook Islands

General election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

Cook Islands Cook Islands Election and referendum articles with incomplete results