1974 Cook Islands general election

1974 Cook Islands general election

← 1972 3 December 1974 1978 →

22 seats in the Legislative Assembly 13 seats needed for a majority

Party Leader Seats +/– Cook Islands Albert Henry 14 −1 Democratic Thomas Davis 8 +1 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Premier before Premier after Albert Henry Cook Islands Albert Henry Cook Islands

Politics of the Cook Islands
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Early general elections were held in the Cook Islands on 3 December 1974. The result was a victory for the ruling Cook Islands Party (CIP), which won 14 of the 22 seats in the Legislative Assembly with 64% of the vote. The Democratic Party won the remaining eight seats. CIP leader Albert Henry remained Premier.

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.^[1] A planned referendum would have seen voters given the options of independence, self-government or integration.^[2] However, the referendum plans were later dropped.

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.^[3] Henry also obstructed attempts to charter an Air New Zealand plane for voters to fly home.^[4] However, the Democratic Party was able to charter an Air Nauru Boeing 727 to fly in some voters.^[5] Voters paid their own fares, and the flights were open to all regardless of party affiliation.^[5] 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.^[4]

Party		Seats	+/–
	Cook Islands Party	14	–1
	Democratic Party	8	+1
Total		22	0
Source: Pacific Islands Monthly

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.^[9]

When the newly elected Assembly convened, Marguerite Story was re-elected as Speaker.^[10]

An election was held on 22 December 1977 to fill the vacancy after the death of Tiakana Numanga.